Jerry Marwood, who took up the helm as chairman of the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) last month, was instrumental in the launch of the Competition Commission’s inquiry into the grocery market.

In 2005 the Office of Fair Trading decided that there was no need for an inquiry into the grocery market, dismissing a request from the ACS. The assocation, which represents around 32,000 small stores, launched a legal challenge, forcing the OFT to reconsider on the ground that it had displayed “insufficient reasoning”.

This year Mr Marwood won a gong from the trade journal The Grocer for outstanding achievement, in recognition for his work leading up to the inquiry. He beat off competition from industry heavyweights, including Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco and Justin King of J Sainsbury, to become the first person from the convenience store sector to be awarded The Grocer Cup in its ten-year history.

It is not clear whether he will be crowing victory again today. Some of the ACS’s key complaints – such as the “waterbed effect”, where it claimed that suppliers charged small stores more to compensate for cutting prices for the big supermarkets – have been largely dismissed by the Competition Commission inquiry.

Some of the watchdog’s expected suggestions to increase competition through changes to planning law might even lead to the building of even more large stores, which would not make life easier for independent retailers.

Mr Marwood, 49, who is managing director of Spar in the UK, is known as an outspoken champion of the independent retailer. Spar acts as a buying and marketing group for thousands of small independent businesses and has expanded under Mr Marwood’s leadership to include 2,724 store members. He is credited with transforming Spar UK, the biggest brand in convenience retailing, from an old-fashioned operation into a modern brand.

Mr Marwood began his life in retail as a trainee manager with Gateway, the now-defunct chain, and worked for Somerfield and Tesco before joining Spar in 1996. Three years later he joined Newshops in Bristol, now called Smile Stores, as managing director. He returned to Spar as managing director in 2002.