Why Does Fuel Cost More in Llandudno Than in Bangor and Anglesey?

Drive 25 miles west along the A55 and petrol often gets cheaper. Plenty of Llandudno drivers have noticed it, and plenty feel they are being taken for a ride.

This article looks at how big the gap really is, who actually sets the price on our forecourts, and whether local people can do anything about it, through politics, regulators or simply where they choose to fill up.

The gap: around 8p a litre

In late October 2026 the cheapest unleaded in the Llandudno area was 175.7p, while the cheapest in Bangor and on Anglesey was 167.9p. That is roughly 8p a litre, or about £4.40 on a 55-litre tank.

The telling part is that the same supermarket chains charge Llandudno drivers more than they charge 25 miles away.

Asda charges 3p more in Llandudno than in Bangor, and 9p more than in Llangefni. Tesco charges 2p more at Llandudno Junction than in Bangor.

Who really sets the price: the supermarkets

The big four supermarkets, Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, set the pace for fuel prices in most towns. The competition watchdog found that competition has generally been driven by low-cost supermarkets setting the pace, with other forecourts following. Asda has historically been the cheapest of them.

The catch is how they price. The CMA says most retailers use passive pricing, matching local competitors rather than actively competing to win customers. In plain terms, a supermarket does not charge one national price. It looks at what the forecourts nearby are charging and sits just under them.

That explains the North Wales gap. On Anglesey and in Bangor, a cluster of Texaco and Gulf forecourts is pricing low, so Asda Llangefni has to match them. In Llandudno, the main forecourts are Asda, Tesco at the Junction, Gulf at Penrhyn Bay and Jet on Mostyn Broadway. With nobody undercutting hard, the supermarkets have no reason to drop further, and Llandudno drivers pay the difference.

The independents proving it can be done

Here is the striking part: the cheapest fuel west of the Menai is not coming from the supermarkets. It comes from non-supermarket forecourts that have none of the big four’s buying power.

Stermat Hardware in Gaerwen, a local hardware business that runs the Gulf forecourt, regularly shows up on price trackers as the cheapest station on Anglesey. The Texaco forecourts at Bryn Llwyd Services on Caernarfon Road in Bangor, Pentraeth Services and Herron Services near Llangefni have been priced among the lowest in the area, and Asda Llangefni has had to come down to meet them.

That matters. If a hardware business in Gaerwen and a roadside Texaco in Bangor can sell petrol at these prices and stay in business, then the extra 8p or so at Llandudno’s supermarket forecourts is not about what fuel costs. It is about how little competition there is. The AA has asked the same question publicly: how can so many forecourts charge well below the UK average while most charge far more?

What the watchdog says

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been critical of fuel retailers for three years. Its 2023 study found drivers at supermarkets paid around 6p a litre more in 2022 because the big four increased their margins. It also found that price gaps between local areas had grown.

Since then the CMA has kept up the pressure. In December 2025 it said margins were persistently high and not explained by operating costs. In August 2026 it criticised retailers for being slow to pass on falling wholesale diesel costs, and it is now carrying out an autumn review that includes why fuel prices vary between local areas. That is exactly the Llandudno question.

The CMA has not found evidence of a cartel. Its concern is weak competition, which is harder to fix but easier for customers to influence.

Can Llandudno do anything about it?

Yes, though not overnight. There are two levers: political pressure and where we spend our money.

The political route

Here is the odd part. Llandudno and Bangor share the same MP, Claire Hughes, MP for Bangor Aberconwy, and the same six-member Senedd constituency, Bangor Conwy Môn, which also covers Anglesey. One set of representatives speaks for drivers paying both prices.

Competition law and the CMA are run from Westminster, so the MP is the most direct route. Residents could ask her to put the Llandudno and Bangor price gap to the CMA as evidence for its autumn review of local price differences. Senedd Members cannot regulate fuel prices, but they can raise the cost to local households and businesses publicly. Anyone can also send evidence straight to the CMA, and screenshots of the same chain charging different prices 25 miles apart are exactly the kind it is looking at.

Do boycotts work?

One-day “don’t buy fuel” boycotts rarely achieve much: people simply fill up the day before or after, and the forecourt sells the same volume. What does work is steady, sustained switching. Because supermarkets price against what nearby forecourts charge, a station that keeps losing customers to a cheaper rival has a reason to cut.

The AA has made the same point: Fuel Finder gives drivers a chance to take their business away from over-priced forecourts. If enough Llandudno drivers fill up wherever is cheapest that week, and tell the dearest forecourt why, the local pricing picture can shift.

One warning: a special trip to Anglesey is not worth it. A 50-mile round trip burns more fuel than the £4 or so you would save. Fill up out west only when you are going that way anyway.

What you can do today

• Check before you fill. Google Maps and Waze now show live pump prices from the government’s Fuel Finder scheme, which requires every forecourt to report changes within 30 minutes.
• Compare the supermarkets. Asda, Tesco and the independents in Llandudno can be several pence apart on the same day.
• Combine trips. If you are heading to Bangor or Anglesey anyway, fill up there.
• Write to your MP. Ask Claire Hughes to raise the Llandudno price gap with the CMA. WriteToThem finds all your representatives from your postcode.
• Send evidence to the CMA. Dated screenshots of price differences help its review of local pricing.

What do you think? Should Llandudno drivers organise, lobby, or just shop around harder? Tell us and we will follow it up.