Unintentional encounter at Ladbroke Grove nook store connects son with father

Oliver Archer was posting two parcels in a nook store in west London when one other buyer arrived. Within minutes he discovered that this man was his organic father.

“I've been wanting to know her my whole life,” the 21-year-old informed BBC London. “I got to a point where I accepted I wasn't going to meet him.”

Mr Archer stated he began speaking to the person after overhearing him talking Turkish on the cellphone within the store in Ladbroke Grove on October 27.

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

“I'm usually so talkative, I just started the conversation,” he stated. After listening to that the person's household had been from Istanbul, Mr Archer replied: “Oh, my father is from Istanbul.”

Mr Archer stated he had correctly launched himself to the person, and so they shook arms and exchanged names.

“I'm thinking, 'That's my father's name',” he stated.

“That was the only description my mother gave me. She always said he was a nice boy – I analyzed the conversation; he was lovely.

“I wasn't analyzing her face and considering: 'Do we glance alike?' I simply knew his title, small, good boy. All three packing containers had been ticked. I assumed, one in one million – why not?”

As the man began to leave, Mr. Archer called to him, and asked him to have a quick talk, then asked him if he knew any lady by the name of his mother.

Answer: “Yes, however about 20 years in the past.”

“He form of froze, and we each stood there awkwardly,” said Mr. Archer, whose follow-up sentence was: “I believe I is perhaps your son.”

He additional added, “All this occurred throughout a dialog of three or 4 minutes. It simply so occurred that our lives collided with one another.”

Mr Archer said he knew his father knew he had a son named Oliver, and there was a photograph of his grandmother holding him as a baby.

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

After starting his life in Ladbroke Grove, Mr Archer spent his childhood in Kent and then Kingston. He moved back to Ladbroke Grove at the age of 18.

“He met my mother at Ladbroke Grove,” Mr Archer said. “So I always had a little bit of hope coming back to this area.”

She explained that two weeks before their chance meeting, she had taken a genealogy DNA test in hopes of finding a connection to her father. The result was what he already knew – he was half Turkish.

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

“We talked a bit of and laughed a bit of,” he stated. “He told me he had six other children.

“I think it's another conversation whether I'll be able to meet him or not.”

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

Asked if he intended to undergo a DNA test with his father to prove a family connection, he laughed.

“He's my hottie,” she stated. “Based on his appearance, I think he was.

“The timeline – and how we connected all the dots – there was no way I could have gotten out of that situation, thinking he was a stranger on the street just blabbering on.”

He said he hopes to do a DNA test at some point for 100% certainty.

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

Mr Archer said his mother was happy for him, and agreed that the description sounded like that of a man she had known years earlier.

“I'm nonetheless processing all of it,” he said. “I'm very happy, I'm very excited.

“I’ve to offer her credit score, she dealt with it very effectively. Despite her not being in my life, I'm very happy with her response.”

“We've most likely handed one another so many occasions and by no means realized.”

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

“I don't need there to be any expectations, any gratitude, resentment or something,” he said. “I simply need us each to take a look at what we have now proper now, and say, 'Let's make one thing out of this'.”

Mr Archer stated: “A dialog with an individual is a chance. That dialog – being form, being thoughtful – led me to satisfy my father.”

“For anyone who is ever hesitant to talk to people, be kind to them, try to keep this at the forefront of your heart.

“Sure you may get one thing out of it. In my case, I met my father.”