MORRISONS, which offloaded its M Local convenience store chain in September, is

re-entering the market through a pilot at five petrol filling station shops owned by Motor Fuel Group .

The pilot will start by the end of the year and Morrisons will supply branded and own-brand food to the forecourt stores. The shops, all above 1,200 sq.ft, will be branded Morrisons and the Bradford-based grocer will deliver fresh and ambient food through its logistics network.

David Potts, Morrisons chief executive, said: “As we said at our recent interim results, we want to consider new opportunities to serve customers better in the convenience market where the capital commitment is low and the Morrisons resourcing is light-touch. This pilot in Motor Fuel Group filling stations will allow us to trial one opportunity in this growing channel.”

MFG is the UK's second largest independent forecourt operator with 373 stations operating under the BP, Shell, Texaco and JET fuel brands.

Morrisons sold its 140 M Local convenience stores for £25 million in September to retail entrepreneur Mike Greene. The stores, including Ilkley, have been rebranded My Local and reopened under their new name this week. The 2,300 former Morrisons staff have been retained.