Meet the judges

The entry deadline for the SLR Awards 2026 has passed and the hard work now begins for our various judges. First up are our paper judges who analyse all entries to help draw up the shortlists for each category.

By Antony Begley

By the time you read this article, the entry deadline for the SLR Awards 2026 will be in the past and the team at SLR will already be getting on with the task of collating, ordering and organising the many entries we have received in preparation for the complex and detailed task of judging this year’s awards.

If you’ve been involved with the SLR Awards in previous years, you’ll already be aware that the first task is the paper judging where we gather an experienced and expert panel of retailers and industry experts to painstakingly work through every entry and help us draw up the shortlists for this year’s Awards.

It’s a huge job for the judges – which is why we need a judging panel that truly understands local retailing. Thankfully, we have been able to build yet another fantastically well-qualified panel who have been prepared to share their valuable time, experience and expertise with us.

The unique way we run and judge the SLR Awards mean you know you are being judged fairly and knowledgeably by people who know the sector inside out. At SLR we’re proud to be able to say that ‘we get retail’ – and there’s no doubt that the same can be said of our judging panel.

Then, once the paper judging is complete, we will be hitting the road once again. As usual, I personally will visit every store on the shortlist over the course of about six weeks. I’ll be accompanied by another panel of expert judges including awards sponsors, industry experts and fellow retailers. And we’ll visit unannounced, as we always do. It’s the only way to judge fairly, we feel. We want to see your stores how your customers see them.

It’s a gruelling six weeks where I’ll typically cover between 3,000 and 4,000 miles but it’s ultimately hugely rewarding. First and foremost, having a single lead judge visit literally every store means the judging is done to exactly the same standard. Secondly, it’s rewarding for me personally because it gives me a fantastic and intense deep dive into how the Scottish local retailing sector is progressing.

If the last few years are anything to go by, the judges will be seeing lots of innovation, lots of investment and one or two surprises.

We can’t wait to get started. And to find out if yours is one of the stores we’ll be visiting, keep an eye out for the shortlist when it’s published on the SLR website.

External Paper Judges

Jamie Buchanan

A familiar face in Scottish local retailing, Jamie Buchanan is Programme Director for the SGF Go Local Programme. A former Director of Company-Owned Stores at Spar Scotland, Jamie managed 118 stores before joining SGF to run the Scottish Government-funded Go Local Programme to encourage convenience stores to engage with local, regional and national suppliers.

Eddie Lynagh

Another well-kent face, Eddie Lynagh spent decades with Booker in a variety of depot management roles. He was also President of the Scottish Wholesale Association on two separate occasions. Now officially retired, Eddie retains a keen interest in the local retailing sector and plays an active role on the Scottish Committee of industry charity GroceryAid.

Karen Peattie

Freelance journalist Karen Peattie has been reporting on the local retailing sector in Scotland for more than 30 years and was a consulting editor on SLR when the magazine launched nearly a quarter of a century ago. She continues to report on the sector in trade magazines and in The Herald newspaper, as well as providing PR services for a number of Scottish retail and wholesale businesses.

Avtar Sidhu

Known as ‘Sid’ to his pals, Avtar Sidhu is a hugely experienced and progressive retailer. His St John’s Budgens store in Kenilworth has won more awards than Sid cares to remember. He also sits on the Independent Board of the Association of Convenience Stores.

Luke McGarty

Luke is Head of Policy, Public Affairs and Communications at SGF and plays a lead role in engaging with government ministers, officials, politicians and key stakeholders within the local retailing sector.

Kathryn Neil

Kathryn joined the SGF Healthy Living Programme in 2014 as a Development Manager covering the central and east coast part of the country before taking over the role of Director in 2018. Kathryn has a wealth of experience in the convenience retail sector on which she now draws to develop long term strategy and goals for the Healthy Living Programme.

Chris Noice

A long-standing judge at the SLR Awards, Chris Noice is Communications Director at the Association of Convenience Stores. He joined ACS in 2009 and is responsible for all external and internal communications and media relations as well as a wide-ranging research portfolio. Chris is an official spokesperson for ACS, appearing frequently in print, on national television and radio, to make the case for local shops to external audiences.

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