Applegreen Limited is an Irish company founded in 1992 that operates 620

petrol station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

s in

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

(under the

Welcome Break Welcome Break Limited is a British motorway service station operator that operates 35 motorway service stations in England, Scotland and Wales. It is the second-largest motorway service area operator behind Moto. It also operates hotels and ...

arm) and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is a major petrol retailer in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and operates convenience stores and motorway service areas. Applegreen's headquarters are based in Park West Business Park in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland. In 2018, Applegreen purchased the majority of UK

motorway service area Motorway service areas (MSA) also known as services or service stations, are rest areas in the UK and Ireland where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop, use the toilet or stay in an on-site overnight hotel ...

operator

for €361.8m. In 2021, Applegreen acquired the United States toll road service area operations from

HMSHost HMSHost is an American highway and airport food-service company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Switzerland, Swiss company Dufry. , Steve Johnson is the CEO of HMSHost. History The company's origins are in the Van Noy Railway News and Hotel Co ...

for $375 million. Applegreen operates its own EV charging subsidiary called Applegreen Electric. On 7 October 2022, an Applegreen petrol station in

Creeslough Creeslough ( , locally ; ) is a village in County Donegal, Ireland, south of Dunfanaghy on the N56 road (Ireland), N56 road. It overlooks an arm of Sheephaven Bay, with the population of the surrounding area engaged mainly in agriculture, mo ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

was severely damaged by an explosion in an adjacent apartment building that also killed ten people and injured eight others. In January 2025, Applegreen agreed to sell its UK filling station business, Petrogas Group, to EG On the Move. Its Welcome Break business in the UK was not part of the deal and will remain in Applegreen's ownership.

Greenwashing controversies

In 2020, Applegreen announced an initiative to offset the emissions from its premium fuels, which has been labelled as a

greenwashing Greenwashing (a compound word modeled on "whitewash"), also called green sheen, is a form of advertising or marketing spin that deceptively uses green PR and green marketing to persuade the public that an organization's products, goals, or ...

effort. While the campaign claimed to offset all the emissions from its fuels, a report from

IrishEVs IrishEVs is a consumer advice website focusing on electric vehicles, renewable energy and the climate crisis in Ireland. The site was founded by journalist Tom Spencer, who previously wrote for Fully Charged, and has covered a wide range of top ...

showed that this only included emissions created from cars and did not include emissions from extraction or refinement which typically account for up to 40% of the total greenhouse gas emissions from petrol and diesel.

Partnership with Marks & Spencer

In October 2022, Applegreen announced a partnership with

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

to sell M&S Food at its locations in Ireland. A new M&S Food “shop-in-shop” will initially be available in five Applegreen locations.

References

External links

* {{authority control Automotive fuel retailers Oil companies of the Republic of Ireland Energy companies established in 1992 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1992 Retail companies established in 1992 1992 establishments in Ireland Irish brands Filling stations in the United Kingdom Companies listed on Euronext Dublin