Member Article

Pulman…The New Name For ŠKODA In Cramlington

Pulman are proud to announce the takeover of an already established family-run retailer in Northumberland, north of Newcastle.

Pulman Group have recently acquired the Silbury ŠKODA site in Cramlington, Northumberland (28th January 2020). Silbury ŠKODA has been established since 2006, and just like Pulman Group, a family-run retailer which already proves its values fit with the Pulman brand.

Pulman are not only welcoming the former Silbury showroom but have also welcomed all 28 staff members to join the Pulman family. The total number of employees now employed by Pulman exceeds 250 which truly emphasises that Pulman are one big family. Although Cramlington is a new catchment area for the Group, Pulman have been well-established across Durham and Sunderland for the past 22 years therefore understands the market needs and customer demand across the North East.

Pulman Group’s award-winning experience of being a top ŠKODA retailer and their current relationship with ŠKODA UK provides a fantastic platform to launch the new showroom successfully.

Ian Buckle, Managing Director, speaking of the acquisition said “We knew this business was a fantastic fit to our family run business here in the North East. The culture we have found at this award-winning family business further confirms our confidence to invest and grow it to new levels. We fully expect Pulman Skoda Cramlington to benefit hugely from our Group support functions and allow the customer focussed teams to deliver a fantastic Pulman customer experience.”

Pulman History

Pulman Group have been a family-run retailer since 1998 which welcomed the first Pulman Volkswagen showroom in Durham. Whilst the showroom you see today on Abbey Road was being built, Pulman Volkswagen operated from a pop-up showroom with just 17 employees. The flagship Durham site was the first retailer in the UK to have a café inside the showroom (Café Dafté).

Fast forward 10 years and Pulman acquired Mill Garages on Newcastle Road in Sunderland in 2008 making it the second Pulman Volkswagen site across the North East. The site has undergone a major expansion of the used car forecourt, showroom refurbishment and became an authorised ŠKODA service repairer.

By 2010, Pulman attained Alexandra Bridge Cars and expanded the Pulman brand to offer SEAT. In 2019 the SEAT showroom underwent a huge showroom, external and workshop refurbishment with Pulman investing over £300,000. Pulman SEAT also became one of only twenty-two retailers across the UK to become CUPRA Specialists, and the only specialists in the North East.

16 years since the launch of Pulman was one of the most exciting years for the company with the launch of Pulman ŠKODA in Durham. Originally the ŠKODA showroom was a pop-up showroom which only showcased four models; this was located by the side of Pulman Volkswagen in Durham. Behind the scenes over a 2-year period the purpose-built ŠKODA showroom was being built in Belmont Industrial Estate. By 2016 the new showroom was open to the public after a £2,800,000 investment completed with Café Dafté; the second Café from Pulman.

Today, Pulman Group now have 5 sites based across the North East; Pulman Volkswagen (Durham and Sunderland), Pulman SEAT and CUPRA (Sunderland) and Pulman ŠKODA (Durham and Cramlington).

It’s no secret that Pulman Group deliver a fantastic customer experience, and this will only continue to the north of the Tyne and beyond.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pulman .