Britain’s largest privately owned cash and-carry group has played a crucial role in maintaining the country’s food supply chain throughout the pandemic. It normally supplies more than 70,000 independent retailers and 40,000 caterers and pubs. Bestway also owns the Well Pharmacy chain, which has invested in PPE for its staff, remote working and online sales. Founded as a grocery store in 1963 by chairman Sir Anwar Pervez, 85, the group also owns a listed bank and a cement manufacturer in his native Pakistan, where it donated £3m to a coronavirus relief fund.