Ladbroke Grove corner shop chance meeting unites son with father

Oliver Archer was posting two parcels in a corner shop in west London when another customer walked in. Within minutes, he would discover this man was his biological father.

“My whole life I’ve wanted to know him,” the 21-year-old told BBC London. “I got to a state where I accepted I wasn’t going to meet him.”

Mr Archer said he had struck up a conversation with the man in the shop in Ladbroke Grove on 27 October after hearing him speaking Turkish on the phone.

All he knew about his father was his first name, his height, and that he was a “nice man from Istanbul”.

“How chatty I am in general, I just started a conversation,” he said. After hearing that the man’s family was from Istanbul, Mr Archer said he replied: “Oh, my dad is from Istanbul.”

Mr Archer said he had introduced himself properly to the man, and they shook hands and exchanged names.

“I’m thinking, ‘that’s my father’s name’,” he said.

“It was the only description that my mum ever gave me. She always said he was a nice guy – I analysed the conversation; he was lovely.

“I wasn’t analysing his face and thinking: ‘Do we look alike?’ I just knew his name, short, nice guy. All three boxes were ticked. I thought, one in a million – why not?”

As the man went to leave, Mr Archer called out to him, and asked him for a quick chat, then asked him if he knew a woman by his mother’s name.

The reply: “Yes, but 20-odd years ago.”

“He kind of just froze, and we were both standing there awkwardly,” said Mr Archer, whose follow-up sentence was: “I think I might be your son.”

He added: “This all happened in the space of three or four minutes of talking. It just so happened our lives crossed paths.”

Mr Archer said he knew his father was aware he had a son called Oliver, and had a picture of his paternal grandmother holding him as a baby.

The 21-year-old, who has five sisters and two brothers, said he had spent his youth hoping to find his father, and often searched for his first name on Facebook when his mother left the room.

Having started his life in Ladbroke Grove, Mr Archer spent his childhood in Kent and then Kingston. He moved back to Ladbroke Grove aged 18.

“He met my mum in Ladbroke Grove,” Mr Archer said. “So that’s why I always had a little bit of hope, having moved back to this area.”

He explained that two weeks before their chance meeting, he had taken an ancestry DNA test in the hope of finding a link to his father. The result was what he already knew – he was half Turkish.

Mr Archer said the man explained that he remembered his mother’s street address and her sister – who was involved in their introduction – and that she had two children at the time.

“We had a little conversation, and had a bit of a laugh,” he said. “He told me he has six other children.

“I guess that’s another conversation as to whether I get to meet them.”

Mr Archer said he and his father had been texting since their chance encounter and planned to meet for a coffee on Sunday.

Asked if he intended to take a DNA test with his father to prove the familial link, he laughed.

“He’s the spitting image of me,” he said. “Based on his looks, I’d like to think he was.

“The timeline – and how we connected all the dots – there was no way I was walking out of that situation thinking he was a stranger on the street just blagging it.”

He added that he hoped they would do a DNA test at some point, for 100% certainty.

BBC London has spoken to the man Mr Archer believes is his father. He believes he is too.

Mr Archer added that his mother was happy for him, and agreed that the description sounded like the man she knew years ago.

“I’m still processing it all,” he said. “I’m very happy, I’m very excited.

“I have to credit him, he handled it very well. Despite him not being in my life, I’m very proud of his response.

“We’ve probably walked past each other so many times and never known.”

He said he wanted to understand what had happened in the past, but held no resentment.

“I don’t want there to be any expectation, any sense of owing, resentment or anything,” he said. “I just want us both to look at what we have now, and say, ‘Let’s build something from it’.”

Mr Archer added: “A conversation with an individual is an opportunity. That conversation – being kind, being thoughtful – led me to meet my dad.

“To anyone that is ever hesitant about talking to people, being kind, try to keep it rooted at the forefront of your heart.

“There’s definitely something you can get from it. In my case, I met my dad.”