A THIRD generation family firm which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary has moved to new premises in York as the business expands.

For five decades Wills & Ellis petrol station and service centre has sat on the roundabout of the A59 on York's outer ring road.

Now the business has relocated to bigger premises in Rose Avenue, on York Business Park under the ownership of David Ellis and his wife Carly.

The move has come about due to the redevelopment of the roundabout on the A59, with Wills & Ellis selling its site in favour of larger premises.

Carly Ellis said: "The redevelopment of the roundabout would have made access a big problem for us where we were, and we weren't ableto change our road layouts to fit in with the proposed traffic flow.

"It has worked well for us though as we have now found these new premises, not far away, which has given us room to grow.

"We have been able to add a new memeber of staff to our team of five, and have been able to offer more services as the bigger workshop means we can work on Class Seven commercial vehicles, which we haven't been able to do before because of space restrictions.

"It was very sad to leave the old site. David grew up with the business based there and it's the end of an era to leave. It does mark a new start for us though."

Wills & Ellis was founded by David's grandfather Alec Ellis, who established the firm with his wife Barbara in October 1963.

The business was then taken on by David's parents Stephen and Lesley Ellis, who ran the petrol station when David joined the firm, while he took on the service centre.

Stephen and Lesley retired in October last year, resulting in the closure of the petrol station, and David and Carly taking forward the service centre.