EastEnders star Jake Wood opens new-look post office in Catford

From Walford to Catford, EastEnders star Jake Wood, who plays Max Branning in the BBC soap opera, performed the opening of the new-look Torridon Road post office and Torridon Convenience store.

Jake, who is a friend of one of the owners, Kaual Patel, performed the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon on Saturday.

Jake’s first acting role was in the 1984 television series The Gentle Touch, the same year that the Patel family took on their store at 189-193 Torridon Road, Catford.

The 10-week refit saw the whole shop taken back to brickwork and the forecourt completely redone.

The family’s pride and joy is a new walk-in wine and beer vault, where a former office had been, greatly increasing retail space. 

The post office, which the Patels took on in 2006, has had a facelift and re-decorated with Italian red tiles.

The official opening event of this Nisa store gave customers the opportunity to meet Jake, who has starred in many television programmes and films and was a celebrity in Strictly Come Dancing. 

The walk-in vault has extensive racks of white and rosé wines, standard beers and a wide a choice of 300 craft beers, stored at the perfect temperature, ready to enjoy. 

Instead of many fridges, the whole room is insulated and chilled with air conditioning, which is more energy efficient. 

Kaual, who focuses on the retail side of the store, said: “Customers knew that we were having a refit, but we wanted to give them a big surprise. 

“I let a friend have a look and he was really impressed with the whole refurbishment. It has the wow factor.

“The vault approach worked out cheaper than buying lots of fridges. It provided more storage space, including slabs of beer. It is cheaper to keep everything cool.”

Pictured top: Jake Wood reopens the Torridon Road convenience store and post office (Picture: Post Office)