Main Menu

We provide business support to all SPAR retailers who belong to SPAR UK’s Meridian & Welsh Guild.  All UK SPAR retailers also benefit from SPAR Central Office, which provides national marketing and buying services for the whole group. 
 

Business Development

Each store has a business advisor, who normally looks after 30 to 35 stores.  It is the responsibility of each advisor to ensure that the high standard of SPAR is maintained in all designated stores. 

Our business development team ensures that:

• The sales through the SPAR regional distribution centres and the direct delivery system are maximised through SPAR stores

• All retailers maximise profitability

• All retailers comply with minimum standards when trading under the SPAR franchise 
   

Regional Distribution Centres

Our distribution network of depots extends across the Midlands to South Wales and the south east of England and provides a modern, high-tech warehouse management and computerised ordering system. 

Our regional distribution centres provide an extensive range of goods at ambient, chilled and frozen temperatures delivered via dedicated temperature controlled vehicles.

For more information on our Logistics operation please click here. 
 

National Promotions

There is a full programme of national and local promotions that are changed every three weeks. 

There are 35 national promotion products each period that are decided by SPAR Central Office and cover a whole range of products, including off licence and SPAR own label.

To back up national promotional products, A.F. Blakemore also promotes an additional package of local promotions. 

There is a buying-in period for each promotion that means that retailers may purchase promotion goods at promotion cost prices the week before the start date.

This enables retailers to plan promotions and have the stock available for customers on day one.  The promotion material pack is delivered with your ambient delivery the week prior to the promotion start date. 
 

Independent Retail Accounts

Our Independent Retail Accounts team offers an accounting and bookkeeping service to more than 100 retailers across the Meridian & Welsh Guild. 

The service provides four-weekly Management Accounts, calculation of VAT returns, benchmarking of relevant groupings of other SPAR stores, annual budgets, business plan forecasts and a series of other reports that suit your management needs. 

We also provide a bookkeeping service including reconciliation of service sales, delivery note matching and maintenance of supplier ledger. 
 

Payroll Service

Our Payroll Service provides a comprehensive cost efficient wages package that is tailored to your requirements and forms a long term partnership with our SPAR retailers.

We provide weekly, two-weekly, four-weekly and monthly payrolls, which includes all statutory and contractual payments and deductions.

Other services include a PAYE and National Insurance statement to pay HMRC accurately and on time, electronic filing of all notifications to and from HMRC during the year, end of year processing to produce all year-end documents, payslips and management reports.