Coca‑Cola’s 125th‑anniversary campaign in Britain has singled out a Catford shopkeeper as one of the faces of its tribute to local corner shops — a high‑profile nod that brings a neighbourhood convenience store into the national spotlight. According to reporting on the campaign, the adverts will feature the owner of Torridon Convenience in Catford and celebrate the role independent retailers play on their high streets. Some local and trade reports identify the proprietor as Kaual Patel, while one national aggregator used the name Kiran Patel, a discrepancy that local coverage and industry award notices suggest is a reporting error.

The shop at the centre of the campaign has been recast over the last quarter century as more than a place to buy milk. Journalists and trade pieces describe how the owner transformed the family business after taking over in 2000, installing a Post Office, expanding a food‑to‑go offer and stocking fresh bread, cakes and vegan options sourced from small local producers. The store is also presented as a community hub: a pavement mosaic created with local schoolchildren sits outside the premises and dozens of bespoke product lines and local partnerships have been used to deepen links with neighbours.

The transformation has not gone unnoticed by the industry. News reports record that Nisa Torridon Road in Lewisham — the shop in question — was named Convenience Store of the Year at the national Fed Awards in 2024, with judges praising initiatives that blend retail innovation and community engagement. The business’s family roots go back further: the premises were bought by the proprietor’s parents in the 1980s and have since been modernised and diversified under his stewardship.

Product innovation has become a deliberate part of that local strategy. The owner has collaborated with Brockley Brewery on limited runs — including a Torridon pale ale and lager brewed to mark milestones — and has launched a small‑batch, bay‑leaf‑infused gin produced with a local distillery. Trade coverage describes these as carefully positioned, premium line extensions sold in limited quantities to create local conversation and differentiate the shop from larger multiples; the store also operates a chilled craft‑beer area known locally as The Vault.

The pavement mosaic outside Torridon Convenience is itself a community project. Nisa Retail recounts workshops with two junior schools that fed pupils’ drawings into a mosaic unveiled in December 2023; the scheme was funded by the shop, a community grant and donations channelled through Nisa’s MADL charity. The retailer described the piece as a tribute to local landmarks, and the charity’s programme has recorded six‑figure community support in the borough, including about £15,000 routed to local causes connected to the mosaic initiative. “I’m proud of what the community has created,” the shop’s owner told Nisa Retail when the mosaic was unveiled.

Coca‑Cola Europacific Partners in Great Britain framed its anniversary activity as a broader celebration of the convenience channel. In a company statement the business said it commissioned portraiture of six shopkeepers — photographed by National Portrait Gallery photographer Serena Brown, according to campaign materials — and plans to spotlight independent retailers’ stories, promote its local manufacturing credentials and back the sector with mentoring and investment. The company also says each featured shopkeeper will be able to nominate a local cause to receive a five‑figure donation as part of the campaign; those financial commitments and the polling cited by the firm (surveys by Opinium and Lumina) are presented by the company as evidence of the continuing public reliance on and affection for corner shops. That framing comes from the drinks group’s campaign materials and should be read as the company’s account of its intentions.

Local and trade reporting suggests there is a wider lesson in the Torridon story for neighbourhood retail: bespoke products, close ties to schools and community groups, and visible reinvestment help independents retain relevance amid fierce competition from online and multiple retailers. Industry commentators quoted in trade outlets argue that such strategies both bolster footfall and create narratives that national campaigns — including major brand anniversaries — can amplify. Coca‑Cola’s campaign therefore gives a national platform to initiatives that retailers and local partners say were already delivering social as well as commercial value.

The campaign’s rollout will see portraits and adverts appear across the shopkeeper’s town, and the nominated local charities are due to receive the pledged donations as the activity progresses, according to the company and local reports. Whether the national exposure translates into sustained commercial uplift for the shops involved remains to be seen, but for the Torridon community the celebration has already reaffirmed a sense of local distinctiveness that shopkeepers and residents alike have been building for decades.

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Source: Noah Wire Services