A HULLAVINGTON family firm JA Wilson and Son is going back to its roots. It has moved back to the site where the founder first began selling coal in 1940.

The solid fuel merchants have returned to the old railway yard in the village where Mr Doug Wilson first started trading.

An outline planning application for residential development has now been submitted to North Wiltshire District Council for the former site in Watts Lane.

Michael Mathews, who has run the firm since Mr Wilson retired in 2000, says he is happy to be going back to the firm's roots.

He said: "It has been a big job shifting the entire firm and all the stock to the new site, but it feels right for the old firm to be back where it originally started."

The firm began with Mr Wilson selling small amounts of coal, and is now the oldest solid fuel firm in the area, with a very loyal customer base.

Mr Mathews said: "Although not everything has yet been moved to the new site in the village we are definitely now trading from there.

"Several of my customers got quite upset when they saw the old yard was now closed.

"I want to reassure them that JA Wilson and Son is still going strong, just like it has been for the last 60 years, but from the original site in the village at the old railway yard."