A DOWNEND councillor and business owner is celebrating 20 years in the community.
Raj Sood and his brother Kam took over the Premier MS-2 Stores shop in Quakers Road, Bromley Heath in 2005, and since then Raj has become a Downend & Bromley Heath parish councillor and a South Gloucestershire councillor, representing the Frenchay & Downend ward.
Raj moved to the UK from India in 1992, and ran a business for seven years in Slough before taking over the Premier store in Firgrove Crescent, Yate, in 2002.
He and Kam took on the Bromley Heath convenience store, opposite the Sandringham pub, in 2005.
They extended the shop in 2008 and had a refit in 2021.
Over that time the retail landscape has changed locally, with Raj’s shop the last convenience store left in the area, after the post office and Costcutter store next door became the Bromley tea room and the Good News store in Baugh Gardens closed.
To celebrate the landmark, Raj and Kam offered customers a free National Lottery Thunderball ticket every time they spent £25.