Belsize Village's Thornton's Budgens supermarket will soon be under new ownership.
Long-time owner Andrew Thornton – who took over the store 14 years ago – announced he has chosen to sell it to the Kavanagh Group.
The Kavanagh Group is a family-owned firm which runs a number of other Budgens franchises in the South East, including in Eton.
Andrew – who has pioneered plastic-free shopping in Belsize – said he was "simultaneously delighted and sad" to announce the sale.
He told the Ham&High he was confident the Kavanaghs would continue his work, adding: "They love what we have done here and want to build on this. We’ve been discussing how to take our plastic free work to the next level and how they can develop our amazing food offering.
"They have big plans to do a major refurbishment of the store next year - again building on what we have done. There are an amazing team here in the store and I firmly believe that they will thrive working with the Kavanaghs."
Andrew owned a Thornton's Budgens in Crouch End before moving to Belsize.
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