Trago Mills

Last updated

Trago Mills
Type Private
IndustryRetail
FounderMike Robertson
Number of locations
4 (Falmouth, Liskeard, Newton Abbot, Merthyr Tydfil)
Area served
South West England and South Wales
OwnerBruce Robertson
Website www.trago.co.uk
Newton Abbot store. Trago Mills - geograph.org.uk - 1630444.jpg
Newton Abbot store.

Trago Mills (often known simply as Trago) is a chain of four department stores in south Cornwall, south Devon in England, and south Wales. It owns a site with an amusement park and some independent businesses, adjoining the store near Newton Abbot.

Contents

Three are in town outskirts: Liskeard in Cornwall; Newton Abbot in Devon, and Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. Another is in Falmouth, Cornwall. The company emphasises cheapness and variety of stock.

Background

The chain was established by businessman Mike Robertson who bought the Liskeard site in the early 1960s after leaving a career in the RAF.[ citation needed ]

Sites

The company's buildings at Liskeard and Newton Abbot were designed by Charles Hunt of St Neot, Liskeard, whom they appointed in 1978. The buildings have a castle-inspired profile, with white towers and black-framed windows.

Trago also experimented with smaller stores, such as a 'Trago Mini Mart'[ citation needed ] .

Liskeard

Some of the political statues outside the Liskeard store Trago statues.jpg
Some of the political statues outside the Liskeard store
Pond and statues Black swan and statues - geograph.org.uk - 143714.jpg
Pond and statues

The first Trago Mills store was at Liskeard and started life as a small shed, selling items founder Mike Robertson had bought on trips to larger towns some distance away. The current Liskeard store, five miles west of the town just off the A38 at Two Waters Foot, has several acres of parkland and lakes, with several other local businesses on the site. There are statues at the entrance. One of them is of Attorney General Sir Michael Havers QC. MP, reciting

Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

— proverb, from Matthew ch7 v1-5 The Mote and the Beam (or the Speck and the Plank)

.

Newton Abbot

The Newton Abbot site is the largest of the four and covers over 100 acres (0.4 km2) of land. It has several independent businesses. A garden centre, the largest in the south west, [1] was opened on the site in 2009, [2] followed in 2010 by a new restaurant. [3]

In October 2004, a large fire broke out in the main building of the branch. [4] Thirty fire appliances and over 200 fire fighters tackled the blaze, the largest to occur in Devon for several years. Buildings involved were completely rebuilt.

In summer 2016, Trago2Clear, a clearance outlet for all Trago products closed. On 28 September 2016, demolition took place of the Old Clearance Shed and former Sarah's Pantry Cafe. A new £3 million DIY and Trade centre opened in summer 2017. [5]

In July 2022, the petrol station at the store became the cheapest place to purchase fuel in the UK, with prices there almost 25p cheaper then the national average, causing long queues on the nearby road. [6]

Trago Family Fun Park

Trago Family Fun Park
LocationTrago Mills, Newton Abbot, Devon, England
Coordinates 50°33′25″N3°39′58″W / 50.557°N 3.666°W / 50.557; -3.666
OwnerTrago Mills
Operating seasonAll Year (Most Rides Closed In Bad Weather)
Attractions
Total11
Website http://www.trago.co.uk/

The Newton Abbot store has a leisure park attached, called the Trago Family Fun Park. This was opened shortly after the construction of the permanent store buildings and now covers over 100 acres (0.40 km2). Its features are:

  • Bickington Steam Railway, a 10¼-inch gauge railway that runs from the centre of the leisure park to the front car park, loops round three lakes, then returns to the 'Leisure Central' station.
  • The OO gauge Trago Mills Model Railway which was completed in 1989 after one year of construction by a team of 18 people. Measuring 88 by 14 feet (26.8 by 4.3 m), at the time of its completion it was the largest model railway in the UK. Open Friday to Sunday and looked after by an extremely dedicated person.
  • Eagle Go-Karts imported from the US, an indoor ice skating rink, a shooting gallery, remote-control trucks and boats, trampolines and crazy golf. Also includes various picnic areas and an animal park with horses, donkeys, pigs and other animals.
  • By the park are small shops, cafés and restaurants. Local produce includes fish and chips and fresh fudge.

Falmouth

The Falmouth store, near the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, is the smallest of the four.

Merthyr Tydfil

After owning a former factory site in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales for nearly a decade, work began on the new shopping centre in autumn 2016. The site's multi-million pound store has 17 small towers. The store opened in April 2018. [7]

Statues of local political figures and officials the owner believed were opposed to his development "welcome" shoppers to the Liskeard store. One source of opposition may have been that planning permission did not always precede building work[ citation needed ]

Robertson's local newspaper advertisements resulted in three newspapers carrying the adverts being successfully sued for libel by Sir Edward Heath, [8] when some of his comments became highly personalised.

Robertson placed advertisements in the 1980s and 1990s calling for the castration of gay men. The United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority ruled against Trago Mills and demanded the withdrawal of all advertisements in 1998. [9] [10] Trago still occasionally runs inflammatory copy within their ads, one entitled "For any cash strapped Moslems reading this…" appeared in the Falmouth Packet in 2009 to promote a book by senior UKIP official David Challice. [11]

With his son and successor, Bruce, Robertson supported Eurosceptic political parties, most recently the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). Robertson threatened to refuse to stop using imperial measures in his stores, attributing UK metrication to the European Union (Trago today sells goods in metric quantities, sometimes with imperial equivalents, in line with the law). [12] He remains opposed to speculative immigration from Eastern Europeans. Robertson supports job-specific immigration, more liberally than some in UKIP. [13] [14] In January 2007, the Mid Devon Star suggested this was hypocritical, as his large Newton Abbot site employed around 30 Polish people. [15]

In September 2011, the company was fined £199,588 after admitting five breaches of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. This followed the discovery of several thousand tonnes of dumped waste, including asbestos, at its Newton Abbot and Liskeard sites. [16] The fine was reduced to £65,000 in January 2012, after an Exeter Crown Court judge accepted that Trago Mills had paid nearly £500,000 in clean-up costs. [17]

In 2014, Trago Mills was featured on BBC's Fake Britain , after local Trading Standards discovered fake top-brand shampoo on sale in store. Trago management said that the product had been purchased from a reliable source and they had worked closely with local trading standards to ensure that the product was taken off sale once it had been identified as a fake.

In June 2018, following the opening of the company's store in Merthyr Tydfil, some locals threatened to boycott the shop after Robertson criticised bilingual education and described bilingual English and Welsh signage as "visual clutter". [18]

Trago Mills Ltd (Aircraft Division)

The FLS Sprint seen here at the fly-in at Bodmin Airfield, 3 May 2008. FLS Sprint 160.JPG
The FLS Sprint seen here at the fly-in at Bodmin Airfield, 3 May 2008.

In the early 1980s, Trago Mills elected to design and build its own aircraft that could be sold to the British military as a trainer to replace the then ageing "Bulldog" fleet. The result was the Trago Mills SAH-1, which first flew on 23 August 1983. Passed over by the armed forces, the rights to the design have since changed hands several times, the latest version being the FLS Sprint.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merthyr Tydfil</span> Town in Wales

Merthyr Tydfil is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about 23 miles (37 km) north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of King Brychan of Brycheiniog, who according to legend was slain at Merthyr by pagans about 480 CE. Merthyr generally means "martyr" in modern Welsh, but here closer to the Latin martyrium: a place of worship built over a martyr's relics. Similar place names in south Wales are Merthyr Cynog, Merthyr Dyfan and Merthyr Mawr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liskeard</span> Town in Cornwall, England

Liskeard is an ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, 14 miles (23 km) west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) east of Bodmin. The Bodmin Moor lies to the north-west of the town. The total population of the town at the 2011 census was 11,366

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teignbridge</span> Non-metropolitan district in England

Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Newton Abbot. The district also includes the towns of Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish, Kingsteignton and Teignmouth, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Teignbridge contains part of the south Devon coastline, including the Dawlish Warren National Nature Reserve. Some of the inland western parts of the district lie within the Dartmoor National Park. It is named after the old Teignbridge hundred.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newton Abbot</span> Town in Teignbridge District, Devon, England

Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the South Devon Railway locomotive works. This later became a major steam engine shed, retained to service British Railways diesel locomotives until 1981. It now houses the Brunel industrial estate. The town has a race course nearby, the most westerly in England, and a country park, Decoy. It is twinned with Besigheim in Germany and Ay in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crediton</span> Town in Devon, England

Crediton is a town and civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon in England. It stands on the A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, about 7 miles (11 km) north west of Exeter and around 14 miles (23 km) from the M5 motorway. It has a population of 8,304. However, the combined population of the parishes that make up the Crediton area is estimated to be 21,990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plymouth railway station</span> Railway station in Devon, England

Plymouth railway station serves the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. It is on the northern edge of the city centre, close to the North Cross roundabout. It is the second busiest station in the county of Devon, and the largest of the six surviving stations in Plymouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyfarthfa Ironworks</span>

The Cyfarthfa Ironworks were major 18th- and 19th-century ironworks in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South West Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bickington</span> Village and civil parish in Devon, England

Bickington is a village and civil parish in the Teignbridge district of Devon, England, on the east edge of the Dartmoor National Park. At the 2001 census it had a population of 311. The village is about five miles west of Newton Abbot, on the River Lemon. The church is 15th century; its lychgate has a room over it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Passmore Edwards</span>

John Passmore Edwards was a British journalist, newspaper owner and philanthropist, and briefly a Member of Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornwall Railway</span> Former railway company in southwestern England

The Cornwall Railway was a 7 ft 1⁄4 in broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, England, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construction, and was eventually forced to sell its line to the dominant Great Western Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perranwell railway station</span> Railway station in Cornwall, England

Perranwell station is on the Maritime Line between Truro and Falmouth Docks in south-west England. The station is managed by, and the services are operated by, Great Western Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme</span> List of roads in Great Britain

B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme for the rationale behind the numbers allocated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A382 road</span> Road in Devon, England

The A382 is a road in South West England, connecting Newton Abbot to the A38, then to Bovey Tracey and on through Moretonhampstead to the A30.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bickington Steam Railway</span>

Located at Trago Mills Regional Shopping Centre, Newton Abbot, the 10+1⁄4 in ridable miniature railway Bickington Steam Railway was opened in 1988, using equipment recovered from the Suffolk Wildlife Park, which itself was taken from Rudyard Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharptor</span> Human settlement in England

Sharptor is a hamlet west of Henwood in the civil parish of Linkinhorne in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is named after Sharp Tor on Bodmin Moor. Sharptor is close to Minions to the south, Kingbeare in the north and Darleyford to the east. Sharptor is around 280 metres (920 ft) above sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Cornwall Council election</span>

The Cornwall Council election, 2013, was an election for all 123 seats on the council. Cornwall Council is a unitary authority that covers the majority of the ceremonial county of Cornwall, with the exception of the Isles of Scilly which have an independent local authority. The elections took place concurrently with other local elections across England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merthyr Tydfil County Borough</span> County borough in Wales

Merthyr Tydfil County Borough is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. In mid 2018, it had an estimated population of 60,183 making it the smallest local authority in Wales by both population and land area. It is located in the historic county of Glamorgan and takes its name from the town with the same name. The county borough consists of the northern part of the Taff Valley and the smaller neighbouring Taff Bargoed Valley. It borders the counties of Rhondda Cynon Taf to the west, Caerphilly County Borough to the east, and Powys to the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of Cornwall</span> Overview of and topical guide to Cornwall

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Cornwall: Cornwall – ceremonial county and unitary authority area of England within the United Kingdom. Cornwall is a peninsula bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall is also a royal duchy of the United Kingdom. It has an estimated population of half a million and it has its own distinctive history and culture.

Presented below is an alphabetical index of articles related to Cornwall:

References

  1. ↑ "Trago Mills Garden Park Development". WBM Groundworks Ltd. Archived from the original on 18 January 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Diarmuid opens Trago's new garden centre". This is Devon. 2 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  3. ↑ "Trago Mills Newton Abbot Restaurant". WBM Groundworks Ltd. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Fire breaks out at Devon shopping village". BBC. 6 October 2004. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
  5. ↑ "Trago Mills completes £3.5m Newton Abbott project". Insider Media Ltd. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  6. ↑ "Revealed: Britain's cheapest petrol station where fuel sells for 169.9p a litre". The Independent. 15 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  7. ↑ "Trago Mills Merthyr Development". Trago Mills. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  8. ↑ "Store boss learns price of talking tripe". The Independent. 22 September 1996. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  9. ↑ "Court battle over 'offensive' ad rants". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "High Court rules in ASA's favour as editorial-ad distinction blurs". campaign. 12 November 1999. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  11. ↑ "ENGAGE Exclusive: Trago Mills advert openly promotes anti-Muslim Prejudice". Muslim Engagement and Development. 30 January 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  12. ↑ Bowen, David (28 January 1996). "Customers rally to save the pukka tailor of Piccadilly". The Independent. UK. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
  13. ↑ "Trago to accept plastic". Mid Devon Star News. 12 August 2001. Retrieved 24 September 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. ↑ "Court battle over "offensive" ad rants". BBC. 4 November 1999. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
  15. ↑ Hencke, David (6 January 2007). "Anti-European boss criticised for 'hypocrisy' over Polish staff". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 23 February 2007.
  16. ↑ "Trago Mills fined £200,000 for Devon and Cornwall waste dump". BBC. 28 September 2011. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  17. ↑ "Trago Mills fine for Devon and Cornwall dumping is cut". BBC. 27 January 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  18. ↑ "Trago Mills boss's Welsh language comments have people turning their back on the store". Wales Online . 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.