A cheeky feline dubbed “the Tesco cat” has been given the title of community mascot after receiving nominations in an awards programme.
Gus, who is regularly spotted at the Sheerness superstore, was presented with a mini trophy and special collar for his achievement.
Staff member and community champion, Kay Boswell, says you can usually see him asleep in the car park or greeting customers in the foyer.
The four-year-old furball has been coming to the supermarket since he was a kitten and has been fondly named “the Tesco cat”.
He has also been seen out and about working with the local police force.
Kay said: “He is an icon, whether we care to admit it or not. He’s a very cheeky little man.
“We see him every day. We had to train him at first not to come further into the store, but he knows us all now and where to go.
“If we have a stack of charcoal at the front, he might sit on that and have a nap. Everyone fusses and absolutely adores him.”
Kay, who has worked at Tesco for nearly 30 years, started up the Pride of the Island Awards back in 2021 – inspired by Sheppey’s own charity fundraiser Tim Bell.
She said: “Even during those dark Covid times, he was still out dancing and collecting money.
“We were all stressed and worried, yet he carried on as normal.
“I thought, we need to find more Tim Bells because there are probably people doing similar things that we don’t know about.”
When the scheme launched again this year, Gus received 15 nominations from the public in the Community Hero category.
It was a bit of a shock to Kay, who says she would have struggled to bring him to the awards ceremony if he won.
“Any post on Facebook I do that’s about him, the people love it,” she explained.
“He never lashes out and on a more serious level, lots of customers think of him as a therapy cat.
“Because he had so many nominations, I had to celebrate it in some way.
“I couldn’t let a cat win, but we had to do something special. So we named Gus as our official mascot.
The furry creature is loved by all and his owner, who finds his popularity hilarious, has created a dedicated Facebook page.
Kay recently presented him with a mini trophy and certificate, along with a diamante collar.
In her post on social media, she said: “We even had time for a quick interview.
“I asked Gus, ‘so many people nominated you for a Pride of the Island Award this year, how does this make you feel?’ Gus then looked at his foot for a good 30 seconds.
“I also managed to ask Gus if this would change him now that he is an award winner?
“Gus responded by stretching his back leg above his head and then continued washing his inner thigh.”
The awards were only supposed to be a one-off, but grew in popularity and now involve the whole community.
This year they have so far received more than 8,000 votes across 10 categories.
The winners will be invited along to a presentation evening with their friends and family to enjoy a red carpet evening.
Voting closes on Sunday, August 24. Click here to find out more.
The program is created, run, funded and presented by a team from the Tesco Sheerness store.
Kay added: “People really embrace it. It’s a special thing. Day-to-day, all you read about is bad stuff. It’s all doom and gloom.
“This helps me get to know more people and new charities. We’re celebrating incredible things.”
