Spar has poached Jon Bleeze former head of sales at veg-box supplier Abel & Cole to be its store development controller.

Bleeze started his career with M&S and worked his way up to become franchise manager for Simply Food before joining Abel & Cole in 2007.

"His hands-on experience across the whole retail spectrum demonstrates Jon's passion and enthusiasm for the industry and is sure to equip him well for the role," said Spar UK retail director Richard Bennett, to whom Bleeze will report.

Bleeze replaces John Murray, who takes on the new position of sales development controller, a role that will include increasing sales of Spar branded lines and launching new Spar-branded products.

"I have every confidence in John's ability to take the sales performance of Spar's brand range to a new level," added Bennett.