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Pulman Škoda Durham Celebrate Their 10th Anniversary
Family business Pulman Group are celebrating their 10th anniversary of one of their branches Pulman Škoda Durham. The showroom opened 10 years ago and has gone through quite a journey over the last decade to become the fully fledged Škoda showroom it is today.
Starting at the beginning, Pulman Škoda Durham began in 2014 inside a pop-up unit down the road from flagship site Volkswagen Durham at Pity Me before it moved to permanent fixtures in a purpose-built showroom at Belmont Industrial Estate in 2016.
The old Škoda Durham unit has now been repurposed into Volkswagen Durham’s valet bay.
Škoda Sales Manager, Ian Jarvis stated:
“It’s been brilliant. We started off in an old tile warehouse, put four cars in and we’ve seen it grow to the dealership we’ve got today with an 8-car showroom and 60 used car pitch and our own café. It’s been a brilliant transformation with fun along the way.”
When Ian was asked what his most memorable highlight at Škoda Durham has been, he said...
“It has to be representing Pulman Group and Škoda UK at the World WideŠkoda Challenge in Barcelona where I came 6th out of 32 countries.”
Pulman Škoda Durham was opened in style back in 2016 with some fantastic and fun elements. There were magicians, Škoda racing cars, classic Škoda’s and even someone wearing the Yeti costume.
Food and drinks were flowing amongst the guests, customers and clients alike, as they enjoyed a variety of entertainment.
Operations Director Michael Lines reminisced the grand opening ceremony and had this to say...
“The opening day was a relief because it was a long time coming. We had the plans drawn up for the site two years prior to building it so there was a lot of anticipation. It got delayed as most projects do but to finally open the doors was just brilliant. We had a great opening night with lots of people in attendance.”
Prior to the grand opening Pulman Group ran a local radio campaign with Smooth Radio for a listener to win a brand-new Škoda Citigo. The finalists then took to the stage at the opening ceremony and one lucky winner was over the moon when they received the car live on air across the radio station.
Pulman Škoda Durham’s purpose-built showroom also included the introduction of a café within the showroom.
Head Chef Andy Spenceley had this to say about the ambience the café brings to the showroom:
“We’ve found that the café now has more footfall, people noticing we’re here inside the showroom. My highlight has been the amount of people we get in the showroom now and people love coming to the café for the homemade food and the atmosphere.”
The Pulman Škoda café is open not just to customers buying a car, anyone can go for a bite to eat or coffee and cake. Discover More on the Pulman Cafe below!
As well as Škoda Durham’s 10th Anniversary. It’s also Pulman Group’s 25th Anniversary for the remainder of this year.
The family run business began in 1998 with founder Mike Pulman and Pulman Group have been continuing the 25th Anniversary celebrations all year while delivering their famous fantastic customer experience across their North East showroom locations.
