A milestone year for the McCullaghs Classic Service Station

It’s certainly been a year to remember for McCullagh’s Classic Service Station in Omagh. To secure a hat-trick of top awards is a magnificent achievement in its own right, but extra special during a milestone 30th anniversary year for the local business.

Classic Service Station was first established by Terence and Briege McCullagh on the Dromore Road back in 1992.

A number of rebuilds later, the business now has a premises of 7,000 square feet… boasting one of the busiest forecourts in the district, a shop, deli, chippy, off licence and in-store bakery.

“I would have been just seven-years-old when my parents took over the business and I vividly remember Terry and I being involved at the weekends – it’s probably all we’ve known.”

These are words of Jonathan McCullagh, who, alongside his brother Terry, is now central in the running of Classic Service Station.

It really is a family affair, not just in terms of the McCullaghs themselves, but also in regards to the warm and friendly atmosphere enjoyed by both staff and customers at the shop.

“My father, Terence and mother, Briege started the business 30 years ago, and they are still very much involved,” continued Jonathan.

“Three knockdowns and rebuilds later, it’s great that we’re still going strong today.

“When we started off, the shop was only a couple of hundred square foot… and we are currently sitting with a premises of seven thousand square foot – so the scale of what we had then to what we have now is massive.”

Jonathan has spent the majority of his life working in the family business, and fondly reflects on helping to pack shelves in the shop from a young age. Although he joked that “the pay wasn’t too good back then!”

The McCullagh family are extremely proud to have reached the 30 year milestone, and they are particularly grateful to their staff and customers for their support throughout those three decades.

Jonathan said, “We started off with maybe six members of staff, and now we have more than 60 – it’s great to be able to provide employment for local people.

“We’ve been very fortunate over the years in that we’ve built up a great team of loyal staff, many of which have been with us for over 20 years.

“As a family we are very proud to be 30 years in business, it’s a great milestone to reach, and we are very grateful for the support of the local community, and for all the staff that have helped us along the way.”

The fact that it has been redeveloped several times over the years demonstrates that McCullagh’s Classic Service Station does not rest on its laurels.

The business has weathered changing business dynamics, new technologies and multi-national competition to move forward and embrace the future.

Not to mention compete with several major stores nearby.

That forward-thinking ethos was rewarded in some style this year when McCullaghs scooped three prestigious business awards – ‘NI Retailer of the Year’; ‘Food to Go of the Year’ and UK ‘Forecourt Retailer of the Year’.

“We’ve been delighted and blown away by the awards we won this year,” said Jonathan.

“I suppose the icing on the cake was the ‘NI Retailer of the year’ award, which was very prestigious.

“We also picked up ‘Food to Go of the year’ which is a testament to the team that we have in our deli who are producing high quality food day in, day out,” he added.

“We also got ‘UK Forecourt Retailer of the year’ and we were proud to be recognised for offering quality fuels at the lowest possible prices.”

With family values at the centre of everything they do, McCullagh’s Classic Service Station is a warm, welcoming and professional and professional environment.

Concluding, Jonathan is keen to stress that the most important aspect of the business is its customers.

“My favourite aspect of the job is dealing and interacting with the customers,” he said.

“You meet some lovely people and some great characters… and no day is ever the same!”