Clapham man makes tuneful Sainsbury's proposal to Streatham lover

Neil Chandler, 36, surprised Kaajal Barot, 28, in the fruit and veg section by bursting into It Must Be Love by Madness.

Miss Barot watched in astonishment as choir members posing as shoppers joined in while Mr Chandler popped the question.

He said: “Kaajal said to me that she wanted me to surprise her and I thought if I flew her to somewhere dramatic or if I took her to a fancy restaurant she would know and it would be heavy on the pocket book.

“So I decided instead to spring it on her in Sainsbury’s, where we come every Sunday.”

“I had wanted to be completely surprised, and I was,” Miss Barot added. “We are going to have a big red and gold Indian wedding.”

Mr Chandler, of Sandmere Road, Clapham has been secretly practising for weeks with Kitsch In Sync, a volunteer choir based in London Bridge.

He said he had been nervous on his way to the Clapham High Street store, but but luckily she said “yes” and accepted the diamond ring.

The couple met when Miss Barot, from Penwortham Road in Streatham, was a student temping at the Daily Star Sunday, where Mr Chandler is a journalist.

After five-and-a-half years he decided to propose in style, but Miss Barot, who is now a doctor, was too busy at Northwick Park Hospital in Middlesex to notice him sneaking off to rehersals.

Watch the proposal

Mr Chandler added: “I started off confident about the proposal, but when I told people about it, they said ‘you must be confident’, which made me start worrying.

“I thought if I put enough peer pressure on her she would have to say yes.”

Choir member Kate Kimber, 25, from St Albans said afterwards: “It was brilliant, I burst into tears. It was just really beautiful. I didn’t think it would go as well as it did. He had been to a few rehearsals with us and we weren’t entirely sure how it was going to work. But it went perfectly.”

For information on Kitsch in Sync visit kitschinsync.co.uk or email kitschinsync@hotmail.co.uk