ONE of Burnley’s busiest petrol stations will be closed for 18 weeks for a major revamp.

Rossendale Road Service Station closed yesterday so the current premises can be demolished and replaced with a new forecourt building and car wash.

Full planning permission to redevelop the garage was granted last year and Subway was one of the major names expected to move in with a drive-thru coffee shop.

However that part of the plan was shelved last autumn after the ‘viability’ was called into question.

Owners, Blackburn company the Kay Group, said the new ‘flagship’ service station would create at least 10 jobs.

A piece of land at the rear of the Spar shop was bought by the group and earmarked for the development.

Paul Blackmore, non-executive chairman of the Kay Group, said the extra space created and a new fuel pump system would help ease traffic problems at the site.

He said: “The current site is very congested for a petrol service station so we are proposing to widen the site to increase the shop size and provide customer parking to the shop front for our fuel customers with the aim to reduce congestion at the pumps, especially at peak times.

“A new pump layout will bring customers further into the site with a spacious in-line petrol pump layout.”

The Kay Group, which has its headquarters in Grimshaw Park, owns several service stations across East Lancashire including Kitchens Garage in Trafalgar Street, Eastern Avenue service station, in Burnley, as well as Darwen, Clitheroe and Bacup.