Trago Mills

Trago Mills is a privately operated British discount department-store chain with stores in Liskeard and Falmouth in Cornwall, Newton Abbot in Devon, and Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. The business is associated with a deliberately unconventional retail model: large stores located away from traditional town centres, extensive and varied merchandise, prominent price-focused advertising, and, at some locations, leisure facilities and independent businesses operating alongside the main shop. The chain began in the early 1960s after businessman Mike Robertson moved to Cornwall following the death of his wife and acquired the Liskeard site. The original operation was modest, beginning as a small shed stocked with goods Robertson obtained during trips to larger towns. It subsequently developed into a substantial out-of-town retail destination near Two Waters Foot and the A38. The Liskeard property includes parkland, lakes, statues and other businesses, reflecting the company’s tendency to treat its locations as destinations rather than simply stores. Trago’s retail proposition centres on discount pricing and variety. Its stores have sold or hosted departments covering household goods, DIY, gardening, furniture, clothing, toys, food, leisure products and other general merchandise. The format has included clearance operations, a garden centre, restaurants, cafés and smaller retail units. The company has also experimented with compact formats, including a Trago Mini Mart, although its best-known properties remain the large destination stores. The Newton Abbot site is the chain’s largest. Covering more than 100 acres, it combines the store with a garden centre, restaurants, independent businesses and a formerly extensive family leisure park. The park included a miniature railway, model railway, go-karts, ice skating, shooting-gallery attractions, remote-control vehicles, trampolines, crazy golf, picnic areas and animals. The family fun park was scaled back and closed at the end of 2025, while the miniature railway remained open according to the cited reference material. The Newton Abbot branch also suffered a major fire in October 2004; the affected buildings were subsequently rebuilt. Expansion continued in Cornwall and Wales. Falmouth became the smallest of the four stores. At Merthyr Tydfil, the company spent several years holding a former factory site before beginning construction of a new shopping centre in 2016. The multi-million-pound store, distinguished by numerous small towers, opened in April 2018. The site’s opening extended Trago’s distinctive retail format beyond South West England into South Wales. The brand has also been shaped by the outspoken public positions and advertising style associated with the Robertson family. Mike Robertson and his son and successor Bruce have been linked with Eurosceptic politics and support for UKIP. Trago advertising has generated repeated controversy, including material condemned by the Advertising Standards Authority and political or inflammatory copy in local newspapers. The company has also faced planning, environmental and trading-standards disputes. These episodes have made Trago Mills unusually recognisable as a regional retailer whose identity combines discount commerce, highly individualistic ownership, unusual architecture, leisure attractions and provocative publicity. In July 2022, the Newton Abbot petrol station attracted national attention when it offered fuel at prices reported to be almost 25 pence per litre below the national average, producing long queues on nearby roads. The episode reinforced the company’s price-led reputation, while also illustrating the operational and public-impact issues that can arise from aggressive pricing. Trago Mills remains a regional British retail business rather than a conventional national department-store group.

Trago Mills originated in the early 1960s when Mike Robertson acquired a site at Liskeard after relocating to Cornwall. The first operation was a small shed selling goods Robertson had bought in larger towns, where shopping opportunities were more extensive than in the surrounding area. From that modest beginning, the business developed a distinctive out-of-town discount-retail format based on broad stock selection and low prices. The Liskeard property became a substantial destination near Two Waters Foot, close to the A38. It incorporated open land, lakes, statues and additional businesses, establishing a pattern later associated with Trago Mills: the store was not merely a conventional shop but part of a larger commercial and recreational site. Some of the company’s buildings, including those at Liskeard and Newton Abbot, were designed by Charles Hunt of St Neot, Liskeard, who was appointed in 1978. Their white towers and dark-framed windows gave them a castle-like appearance that became a visual signature of the chain. Newton Abbot grew into the largest Trago Mills location, occupying more than 100 acres. Alongside the department store, the site accumulated independent businesses, food outlets, a large garden centre and leisure facilities. The garden centre opened in 2009 and a new restaurant followed in 2010. The attached Trago Family Fun Park included a miniature railway, model railway, go-karts, ice skating, shooting-gallery attractions, remote-control vehicles, trampolines, crazy golf, picnic areas and animals. The model railway was completed in 1989 after a year of work by an 18-person team and was described at the time as the largest in the United Kingdom. A major fire in October 2004 destroyed parts of the Newton Abbot main building. The incident required a major emergency response, after which the damaged structures were rebuilt. The company tried smaller retail concepts, including a Trago Mini Mart, but its principal identity continued to rest on large destination stores. At Newton Abbot, the Trago2Clear clearance operation closed in summer 2016. Demolition of the old clearance shed and the former Sarah’s Pantry café followed in September of that year, and a new DIY and Trade Centre opened in summer 2017. The chain expanded to Falmouth, Cornwall, where it operates its smallest store near the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. It also pursued a major Welsh development. After holding a former factory site at Merthyr Tydfil for almost a decade, Trago began work on a new shopping centre in autumn 2016. The store opened in April 2018 and used a design featuring 17 small towers, echoing the unusual architecture of the older locations. Trago’s public identity has been closely connected to the political and advertising activities of Mike Robertson and his son Bruce. Robertson used newspaper advertising to attack perceived opponents of his developments and public positions. Some advertisements became sufficiently personal that Sir Edward Heath successfully sued three newspapers that carried them for libel. During the 1980s and 1990s, Trago advertisements calling for the castration of gay men were the subject of an Advertising Standards Authority ruling in 1998, which required the advertising to be withdrawn. Later advertising continued to attract criticism, including a 2009 advertisement in the Falmouth Packet promoting a book by senior UKIP official David Challice with inflammatory wording. The business and its owners have also expressed Eurosceptic and anti-immigration views. Mike and Bruce Robertson supported UKIP and objected to the replacement of imperial measurements, although stores ultimately sold goods in metric quantities, sometimes with imperial equivalents, as required by law. Public discussion also followed comments about Eastern European immigration and the employment of Polish workers at the Newton Abbot site. Legal and regulatory controversies extended beyond advertising. In 2011 the company admitted five breaches of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 after several thousand tonnes of waste, including asbestos, were found dumped at the Newton Abbot and Liskeard sites. An initially reported fine of £199,588 was reduced to £65,000 in January 2012 after the court took account of almost £500,000 in cleanup spending. In 2014, BBC’s Fake Britain covered an incident involving counterfeit top-brand shampoo identified by local Trading Standards. Trago management said it had obtained the goods from a reliable supplier and that the copies were difficult to distinguish from the genuine products; Cornwall Trading Standards closed its investigation after testing. Following the Merthyr Tydfil opening, local criticism intensified in 2018 after Robertson criticised bilingual education and described bilingual English and Welsh signage as visual clutter. In July 2022, Trago’s Newton Abbot petrol station gained attention for selling fuel at exceptionally low prices, reportedly almost 25 pence per litre below the national average, causing traffic queues. The company later reduced its leisure operations: the Newton Abbot family fun park closed at the end of 2025, although the miniature railway continued according to the cited account. Trago Mills therefore remains a regional discount retailer whose history combines entrepreneurial expansion, destination-store development, leisure ventures, unusual architecture, political publicity and recurring regulatory controversy.

• 2018

  Merthyr Tydfil store opens

  [1]Trago Millsen.wikipedia.org

  The company opened a new store and shopping centre at Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales.

• 2009

  Newton Abbot garden centre opens

  [1]Trago Millsen.wikipedia.org

  A large garden centre opened at the Newton Abbot site.

• 2004

  Newton Abbot fire

  [1]Trago Millsen.wikipedia.org

  A major fire damaged the Newton Abbot main building; the affected buildings were rebuilt.

• 1989

  Newton Abbot model railway completed

  [1]Trago Millsen.wikipedia.org

  An OO-gauge model railway was completed after a year of construction by an 18-person team.

• 1983

  SAH-1 aircraft makes first flight

  [1]Trago Millsen.wikipedia.org

  The company’s aircraft division designed the Trago Mills SAH-1 as a proposed military trainer. The prototype first flew on 23 August, but the armed forces did not adopt it.

• 1978

  Castle-style store architecture commissioned

  [1]Trago Millsen.wikipedia.org

  Charles Hunt of St Neot, Liskeard, was appointed to design buildings associated with the Liskeard and Newton Abbot sites.

• 1960

  Liskeard operation begins

  [1]Trago Millsen.wikipedia.org

  Mike Robertson acquired the Liskeard site and began the small-scale retail operation that developed into Trago Mills. The precise founding year is not specified in the cited material.

A regional, family-associated discount department-store operator positioned around low prices, broad product variety and destination retailing. Its large out-of-town sites combine shopping with garden, food, leisure and independent-business facilities, while distinctive architecture and provocative advertising give the brand a strongly individualistic identity.

• Department-store retail

  Discount general merchandise

  Trago Mills’ core retail offer is a broad collection of discounted goods rather than a single specialist product line. Stores have carried household items, clothing, toys, furniture, food, leisure products and other general merchandise. The emphasis is on breadth, opportunistic buying and low prices, with stock varying by location and season.

• Home improvement · 2017

  DIY and Trade Centre

  The Newton Abbot DIY and Trade Centre replaced earlier clearance-site facilities after redevelopment in the mid-2010s. It extends Trago’s discount model into building, maintenance and trade-oriented supplies and forms part of the wider Newton Abbot destination rather than operating as a separately established national chain.

• Garden retail · 2009

  Garden Centre

  The Newton Abbot garden centre, opened in 2009, is described in the reference material as the largest in the South West. It adds plants, gardening products and related outdoor merchandise to the department-store operation and helps make the site a regional shopping destination.

• Leisure attraction

  Bickington Steam Railway

  The Bickington Steam Railway is a 10¼-inch-gauge miniature railway at Newton Abbot. Its route connects the leisure area with the front car park, travels around three lakes and returns to the Leisure Central station. It remained open after the wider family fun park closed.

• Aircraft design · 1983

  Trago Mills SAH-1

  The SAH-1 was an aircraft developed by Trago Mills’ aircraft division in the early 1980s as a proposed replacement trainer for the British military’s Bulldog fleet. It first flew in 1983 but was not selected by the armed forces. Design rights later changed hands, with a subsequent version known as the FLS Sprint.

• 2018

  Welsh-language signage controversy

  Following the Merthyr Tydfil store opening, some local people threatened a boycott after Mike Robertson criticised bilingual education and described bilingual English and Welsh signage as visual clutter.

  Source

• 2014

  Counterfeit shampoo investigation

  BBC’s Fake Britain reported that local Trading Standards had found counterfeit branded shampoo on sale at a Trago store. Management said the product came from a reliable source and was difficult to identify as counterfeit without testing; Cornwall Trading Standards subsequently closed the investigation.

  Source

• 2011

  Environmental Protection Act breaches

  Trago Mills admitted five breaches after several thousand tonnes of waste, including asbestos, were found dumped at its Newton Abbot and Liskeard sites. The fine was later reduced after the court considered the company’s substantial cleanup expenditure.

  Source

• 1998

  Advertising Standards Authority ruling over anti-gay advertisements

  Advertisements published by Trago in the 1980s and 1990s calling for the castration of gay men were ruled against by the Advertising Standards Authority. The company was required to withdraw the advertisements.

  Source

Read more

• 2022Low-price fuel promotion

  United Kingdom

  The Newton Abbot petrol station offered fuel at unusually low prices, reportedly almost 25 pence per litre below the national average. The pricing acted as a powerful local traffic driver and reinforced Trago’s long-standing low-price positioning.

  Outcome. The promotion attracted long queues on nearby roads and received public attention.

  Source

• 2025

  Scale back the Newton Abbot leisure parkStrategy

  Background

  The company reduced the scope of its leisure activities at the Newton Abbot destination.

  Action taken

  The Trago Family Fun Park closed at the end of 2025, while the miniature railway remained open according to the cited account.

  Aftermath

  Newton Abbot retained its retail, garden, food and selected railway attractions, but no longer operated the full family fun park.

  Source

• 2018

  Expand into South WalesStrategy

  Background

  Trago Mills had held a former factory site at Merthyr Tydfil for nearly a decade before proceeding with development.

  Action taken

  The company built a multi-million-pound shopping centre with a Trago Mills store and distinctive towered architecture.

  Aftermath

  The store opened in April 2018 and became the chain’s fourth major location.

  Source

• 2016

  Close Trago2Clear and redevelop the Newton Abbot siteStrategy

  Background

  The Newton Abbot operation was adjusted as the company changed the use of parts of its large retail complex.

  Action taken

  Trago2Clear closed, the old clearance shed and former café were demolished, and the site was redeveloped into a DIY and Trade Centre.

  Aftermath

  The new centre opened in summer 2017, strengthening the site’s home-improvement and trade offer.

  Source

1. 1Trago Millsen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Trago Mills official websitetrago.co.uk