Modern Tyre Service 9th largest tyre retailer in the UK

Following the publication of our latest coverage of the development of tyre retail business in the UK in the May issue of Tyres & Accessories (see “Mind the gap: UK retailers continue right-sizing” online and in the print edition), it has come to our attention that one company that has grown into a significant position of influence within the market during the last few years was overlooked.

Therefore we have now included Modern Tyre Service’s numbers in our 2014 rankings and are pleased to announce that with 30 branches, the Northern Ireland-based business should rightfully have been counted in 9^th position. The problem seems to have stemmed from the fact that we at T&A made the mistake of writing UK on the title of our table, but only counted branches within Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Of course the UK is by definition the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as managers at Modern Tyre Service pointed out, is an oversight that fails to acknowledge this important part of the overall market. Therefore we have included Modern Tyre Service on this revised version of the table and now have a reference point for future versions of this data.

Still growing

As we have seen, Modern Tyre Service should be referred to as the 9^th largest tyre retail chain in the UK, however this does not include the company’s business south of the border, which adds a further 10 branches to the count. If we could count all 40 branches in our research this would put the company one place higher in 8^th position. However, in the interests of consistency and comparability we are sticking to counting the branches of companies operating in the UK. However, having said that, a theoretical total of 40 branches would still put them 11 branches short of the next level. Stranger things have happened, but for the time being it looks like there is clear water between this position and those beneath.

For its part, Modern Tyre Services has grown steadily throughout almost five decades. Growth accelerated in 2002 when the business took over Motorway Tyres’ sites within Northern Ireland and last year the company negotiated a deal to buy out the three last remaining ATS Euromaster depots In the province. The next major leap saw the company enter the Southern Irish market (something that took place within the last few months) after buying 10 Hanover Tyres depots for the receiver.

With all this going on it would be easy to overlook the fact that the company celebrates half a century in business in 2015, something the company is likely to share more about in the Autumn.