Rationing, shortages and shoplifters: Britain’s corner shops have faced it all in their almost 200-year history.

But behind the ready meal aisles, sweet packets and fizzy drinks, are people who rarely get a mention.

Britain’s corner shop bosses have steered their local communities through world wars, decimalisation, and even a pandemic.

They are now the focus of a major new campaign by Coca-Cola, and Metro has spoken to some of those whose shops go back decades.

In 1908,Keith Tomes’ great-granddad, Harry, opened a single-story corner shop in Swanage, Dorset. Back then, it sold just daily essentials and vinegar in bulk, with customers bringing their own empty vinegar bottles to refill them.

Keith told Metro: ‘We were recycling before it was trendy.’

The quaint outlet was passed down t

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