Save Nour Cash and Carry

June 2020

Nour Cash and Carry is my local supermarket in Brixton. It stocks a huge range of weird and wonderful food stuff from all over the world, and is much loved by the local multicultural community. I can get middle eastern / israeli food there and it specialises in Caribbean and African ingredients.

So it was a shock that the market owners, Hondo International, suddenly decided in February to serve them a note of eviction from their shop, where they have been trading successfully from for the past 20 years. The reason being that they had to make way for an electricity substation.

There had been much outcry in the local community and an excellent social media campaign to save them on instagram and Twitter. But in June with one month till they were due to be evicted, Hondo were standing firm.

I contacted the Save Nour Instagram campaign and asked if I could help with some photography, and they were chuffed. I then worked with the shop to see what would be most effective. We felt that talking to the customers and community that relies on them, was the best way to tell the Nour story. So I photographed shoppers outside the shop (safely socially distanced) and asked them what they bough regularly there and what Nour means to them. It was great to see an almost universal love for this shop and the stories that people told were great - You can read them by hovering over the pictures.

See the full set in my Personal section of my website here

We were keen to get the story placed and the New Statesman (who had done a piece about the shop in March) ran the full set.

The next day, Hondo and Nour reached an agreement to keep the shop in the market. Nour was saved!

This was such an inspiring story of a small shop and local community, standing up to a large multinational corporation and has since been reported on around the world!!

Save Nour Cash and Carry

Nish -Chickpea and millet Flour (TRS and Jalpur)

“Today is just a flying visit, I’ve just bought some Chickpea flour and Millet Flour, its pretty hard to get anywhere else. I run a local vegan restaurant, En Root, which is international but is derived from Gujarati food. We use these flour for our cakes, as they are inherently gluten free, as they are derived from chickpeas and wholesome grains that are better for us.

Before I even started my business I use to come to Nour and that relationship has grown, many of the other local restaurant also rely on them (80% of local restaurant buy from Nour).

If they go its would be really hard, my heart is here for Nour Cash and Carry, it’s familiar, a family home, a hub, its an emotional connection! It’s a big part of our community.”

Save Nour Cash and Carry

Marsha - Condensed Milk (Tropical Sun)

“I live in Fulham and I come once a month to shop at Nour. I buy things in bulk for my family back in Jamaica and send it back in a container. Today I bought 3 cases of Condensed Milk for them. It’s actually cheaper to buy it here and ship than just buying it there. I also buy other Jamaican food, like Plantain crisps or Spiced bun. Also, they always help me take the food to my car, that’s just really good customer service.

I use the condensed milk in coffee or in a porridge and its great in a Guinness Punch.”

Save Nour Cash and Carry

Annaliese Garratt - Round Pitta bread (Michaels)

“No-one comes to Brixton to visit Tescos, but they do come to visit Nour! It’s a great community shop, everybody goes here, its a lovely experience. It sells stuff you can only really get in Brixton.

The landlords are being totally unsympathetic to the community, and the council are just thinking with their pockets. London is always changing, new people coming to an area is lovely. You can move into an area and join in, but what people don’t like, is the use of finance to push people out!

I get herbs here, coconut milk, vegetables, Pitta bread - I’ve got friends coming over later and we are having pitta with dips. During the lockdown they were one of the few places to actually have flour!

Nour is the heart of Brixton.”