Before the freezers had been stocked and the food tokens handed out, people were already tapping on the window of the new shop on Upper Richmond Road. “They wanted to grab a basket and come in and start shopping,” says Nicola Howard, COOK’s area leader. The shop wasn’t open yet. The demand was already there.
COOK opened its West Putney store at 383 Upper Richmond Road on Friday morning, converting the former Moss Pharmacy, as we reported last October, after a major refurbishment that included a full utilities upgrade and structural alterations. The brand now has 110 shops nationally and around 2,000 employees, with food made across four kitchens in Kent and Somerset.
Founder Ed Perry attended the opening. So did area leader Howard, who visited the site two days before and immediately noticed something that is not always easy to find in London. “There was a sense of community,” she says. “Which can sometimes be a challenge in the city because it’s busy and there’s high footfall.”
Shop leader Andrew Wyld, who will run the West Putney store, says the location fills a genuine gap. The nearest COOK shops are in Barnes, East Sheen and Southfields, close enough to know the brand, far enough that commuters heading home toward Putney have historically had to go out of their way. The shop is open until 6pm. “Hopefully we’ll catch people passing on their way home from work,” Wyld says.
Where the brand came from
Ed Perry founded COOK in 1997 with Dale Penfold, and he told Putney.news how it came about. His mother was a good cook. Once a week she would make a big batch of something (chicken casserole, chilli con carne) and whatever was left over went into old ice cream tubs in the chest freezer. On the nights she didn’t have time to cook, she’d bring one out, microwave it, and it was delicious. “I grew up with no sense that frozen food couldn’t taste delicious,” Perry says. That idea: hand-prepared food that happens to be frozen, made 95% in-house, is still the whole business.
COOK has been a B Corp since 2013, one of the founding UK members. The Brought Talent programme, now ten years old, employs people leaving prison. A 30% community discount is available to qualifying groups. Perry puts it with characteristic self-awareness: “Without wishing to sound too much of a d**k: we’ve had this long-held belief that business should be more than just about maximising financial returns from a bunch of shareholders.” The self-deprecation earns the sentiment.
The man who cut the ribbon
The local hero chosen by community vote to open the shop was Graeme Parkin. He runs Serendipity Café, a free three-course meal held every Monday from 12 to 2pm at Community Church on Werter Road, open to anyone who needs it: people experiencing homelessness, those living on low incomes, benefits claimants. The food comes from City Harvest, the Felix Project, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Waitrose and Tesco (donated surplus), turned into a proper sit-down meal. Serendipity has been running since before the first lockdown in 2020, at minimum six years without a break.
Parkin was matter-of-fact about what his café meets. “They might be living on £400 a month,” he said of the people who come. “It’s not possible to live.” The café feeds around 50 people a week. When asked about winning the vote, he was equally matter-of-fact. “I haven’t done anything. It’s all lots of people. Hours and hours and hours.”
COOK gave Parkin £100 in food tokens, and another £100 to Serendipity Café. Howard says the company wants to explore further support for the café as the shop settles in. Parkin received the news in the spirit it was offered. “Good day’s work. Well, I haven’t done anything.”
The parade: what’s there, and what isn’t
The opening is the most significant independent retail arrival on this stretch of Upper Richmond Road for a while.
A survey of the parade sees three empty units from 20 surveyed. Two of the empty units are corner plots flanking the Dover House Road junction, which gives the gap more visual weight than the number alone suggests.
One of those vacancies, immediately next door to the new COOK, is Trina’s Wines, now closed and available to let. The other corner plot, formerly Dover House Lettings, is also vacant and available.
The parade has things going for it: a café, a butcher, a Polish deli, two dry cleaners, a bookmaker, a pet shop. Bit it still lacks some anchor units: the wine shop closed too soon; there is no pub or wine bar on the stretch. No fitness offer. The bones are there; the corners are waiting.
Perry did not try to frame this optimistically. Across 110 shops and six years of trading since the pandemic, he knows what the high street looks like right now. “I don’t know a single person who says things are good at the moment,” he said. “The amount of government red tape is awful. And I think we’re just about to be hit by another wave of inflation. Zero growth. It’s really hard.”
Despite the tailwinds, COOK is opening eight new shops in 2026 and yesterday West Putney was one of them. It is open now and full of cheer.
COOK West Putney is at 383 Upper Richmond Road, SW15 5QJ. Its opening hours are 9.30am-6pm, and 11am-5pm on Sundays.
Correction, Sat 14 Mar, 11am: When discussing the cost of living crisis, we initially noted that some people were living on £400 a week, rather than £400 per month. This has now been corrected.
It’s good news a new shop has filled the empty Boots shop however your report on the rest of the Parade of shops is rather dismal, there are two barber shops, one, Vito has been there for many years, the Post Office offers a friendly much needed local resource, plus there’s a dental surgery and Tesco Express, Al Forno’s restaurant plus the Nepalese restaurant.1
Thanks for this, Sarah – you’re right, and it’s a fair challenge. The parade analysis focused on the vacancies and what’s missing, but in doing so it shortchanged what’s already there. You’re correct that the Post Office is a genuinely important local resource, Al Forno is a great neighbourhood Italian, Snoggy’s biltong is terrific, and so on. We should have been clearer that the parade has real strengths as well as gaps. It’s sad that Boots is in decline – not just here but also on Putney High Street. What is surprising is that Moss Pharmacy couldn’t make it when it took over. And a real shame that Trina’s shut down – it could well thrive now with Cook next door. But the point stands that it’s good to see it occupied again. We didn’t mean to be overly critical – just clear-eyed.
It breaks my heart every time I walk past Trinia’s Off License, and I wonder how much commercial sense it is now making for Wandsworth Council to have an empty premises producing no income for the Council coffers, and what discussions might have taken place before the business closed its doors. I am horrified at the business rates which small local businesses have to pay for what appears to be very little in return.
Just to say it should say about £400.00 a month not a week, so about £100.00 a week for food, energy, etc.
Thanks Graham. We have changed this and put a correction on. And thank you for all the work you do.