Didn't even know his name was Neil.
I didn't have a lot to do with the previous proprietor, but Neil seems like a pretty genuine, nice bloke. From a brief chat with him the previous owner didn't really care about the retail side of the business, but Neil wants to promote it pretty heavily.
He has even set the standard price of his Coopers' Kits to $9.90 (If my frail memory serves me) to compete with the supermarket prices.
For what it's worth, He currently gets all my homebrew business.
As for location, I'm in Embleton, so about 500m from him. Very convenient.
Cheers