This is a vignette about survival. “On the first night I was in the shop, bricks were thrown through my window,” says Jay Patel of Jay’s Budgens in Lewisham, southeast London. “I slept behind the counter and a couple of people said, ‘You’ve made a big mistake.’”
It was March 23, 1980, and racists were targeting non-white businesses like Jay’s. He had just arrived from India and admits he hadn’t the confidence to call the cops.
Instead he opened up at 5 a.m., and despite him and his family regularly being called “Pakis,” he not only survived but thrived. Fast-forward to 2021 and Jay’s Budgens, which he runs with his two sons, Pratik and Tilak, is renowned for its craft beer selection.
Tilak, 26, admits he had to convince Jay that locals would spend £5+ on a single beer, but he did meticulous research, and in July they invested in a huge fridge that could fit hundreds of bottles and cans, including nearly six feet of shelving dedicated to alcohol-free options.
“It all started with one local brewery,” says Tilak. “And more and more kept popping up. Now 70-80% of beer in this fridge is from a local brewery. It gets a different crowd: a lot of Black and Asian customers, and we try to be as welcoming as we can.”
It’s now the ideal mix of Britain and India—especially during the weekend, when you can buy samosas made by Jay’s wife, Nalini, for 60p, with profits going to the Patels’ temple. That’s fitting, as their shop is a sanctuary itself for British-Asian customers like me, and a testament to how racism can be beaten.
Words,David Jesudason