A TikTok video shot in Hoveton, Norfolk, went viral, with creator Gareth Clarke asking whom exactly is Roy?
Technically, Hoveton is the capital of the Broads, although many know it as Wroxham as that’s what the nearby train station is called.
But although the location by the Broads brings enough tourism, many people come here for a different and altogether more peculiar reason.
In Wroxham, there is a strange presence — a name that dances between the shops of this picturesque little English village: Roys.
As someone not from the area, walking through the village you soon realise the place is dominated by shops called Roys. There’s Roys Department Store. Roys Food Hall. Roys Toys. Roys Pharmacy. Roys Florist. Roys Garden Centre. Roys DIY Centre. There’s even Roys Fuel, a little petrol station on the way in, and Roys Medium Stay Car Park with Roys Electric Charging.
The group sells more than 70 000 products, including their own Roys-branded clothing line, making a yearly turnover of 56million pounds.
But for many of the village’s visitors, the classic question is, ‘Who in the world is Roy and why is everything named after him?’
As reported the Daily Mail the local secret that Roy is not a person but a family that’s been serving the people of Norfolk for 130 years.
Roys has multiple stores across Norfolk and Suffolk, and is named after the surname of its founders, Arnold and Alfred Roy, rather than someone with the Christian name of Roy.
There were even more Roys shops in the past, including Miss Roys, a female fashion shop.
Paul Roy, 54, one of two Roy brothers running the group, told the Daily Mail that what ties these shops together is a shared desire to run this local business in a traditional, customer-first way.
You won’t find any robotic self-checkouts at Roys, and the prices are incredibly fair. Local produce takes precedence and staff often stay for decades working for this truly British company.
Mr Roy told the Daily Mail: ‘We are about being invested in our community. We do things the old-fashioned way. It’s hard work.
‘As a family, the tradition was to work in the local trades. We have over 100 local suppliers.
‘It’s not like there aren’t other retailers around. We have competition everywhere.
