‘Best shop in Wakey’: Wakefield off-licence selling Prime is TikTok hit
Darren Grieves has travelled 130 miles (209km) from Carlisle with his three children to spend £66 on four drinks from an off-licence in Wakefield.
The wagon driver has brought Darcy, 12, and nine-year-olds Lacy and Ryan to a fairly nondescript shop in the West Yorkshire city centre that has become an unlikely TikTok sensation.
Wakefield Wines – or Wakey Wines, as it is more popularly known – is a viral hit, with people travelling from all over the UK to film videos, which each have hundreds of thousands of views, quoting popular catchphrases like “What’s the best shop in Wakey? Wakey Wines!”, “Abdul come closer, Abdul go back” and “Bingo bingo Gala bingo”.
It began when the shop, which is otherwise a normal off-licence, became known for being one of the only places youngsters can get hold of Prime, a “hydration drink” made by the YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI.
It has also been called the UK’s most expensive newsagent, selling bottles of the sought-after drink for £19.99, a whopping 10 times the price of the drink in Asda, where it is now sold out.
On Thursday, the Grieves family bought two bottles of the blue raspberry flavour and one of the lemon lime, as well as a can of camel milk – also a hit on TikTok – for £66.
“I’ve been sucked into it,” Grieves said, clutching his £6.50 camel milk outside the shop and looking slightly bewildered. “The kids got me into it and I’ve been watching the videos every day. It’s gone absolutely crazy.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” he added, laughing. “It’s not worth it.”
Lacy disagreed though, saying her friends will be jealous that she got her hands on a drink that is sold out on the YouTubers’ website. “I’ll take the bottle to school. People put water in them,” she said.
Though it is now perhaps as big as Binley Mega Chippy, a takeaway in Coventry that was also a TikTok triumph, the shop’s fame has passed many of its grownup customers by, despite some clues, such as cigarette lighters with the shop’s catchphrases being displayed on the counter.
Melanie Pickering, who works at a solicitors firm in Wakefield, was buying snacks in the shop when she learned of Wakefield Wines’ success. “I had no idea but I think it’s very cool actually. I always like small local businesses doing well,” she said.
Also visiting was teacher Jim Hutchinson and a class of six 15-year-olds who had stopped by after a trip from St Helens in Merseyside to the National Coal Mining Museum nearby, at the insistence of one of the students.
The initial impression was underwhelming for Poppy Birkett, who exclaimed: “Is this all the hype? You’ve got to be joking.”
But the teenagers took pictures outside the shop, with Bella Chaffers saying people at school would be impressed. “My friends have definitely heard of it. Everyone’s seen it on TikTok,” she said.
Abdul Jabbar, who has worked in the shop for seven years and is often enlisted to film the videos of the owner Mohammed Az Nazir bantering with the customers, said parents had told him kids practise the catchphrases at home before their visit.
“They get excited when they’re here, sometimes shouting, others playing music,” he said. While weekends often see queues of dozens of people outside the shop, some days are still fairly normal.
While Jabbar maintains the markup on the drinks is small and that the price gouging happens at their supplier, KSI has criticised the shop for the “outrageous” prices. He told fans: “No, do not pay that much for Prime. I know people want Prime OK, just wait or camp out Asda nice and early, get in Asda nice and early and pay £2, OK, £2 for Prime.”
But that does not seem to be stopping customers like Grieves, who thinks the prices are all part of the experience. So when is he going to drink the camel milk? “To be honest, I don’t really like milk. I’ll probably just give it to the dog.”