THE legacy of a much-loved colleague is set to live on after a city supermarket named this adorable guide dog in his memory.

The tiny golden retriever puppy, which is just a few weeks old, is being sponsored by the Sainsbury’s store in Blackpole. And there was certainly no bone of contention when it came to naming him.

Staff agreed to call him Costa in memory of a former colleague who died last year.

Ivor Watts worked at the Blackpole store for 29 years and regularly used to keep his Facebook friends updated with photos and updates of which Costa coffee shop he and his girlfriend were in.

He died last October shortly after an operation.

Sainsbury’s has once again chosen Guide Dogs – formerly Guide Dogs for the Blind – as its charity partnership and has raised almost £6,000 for the group in the past year.

The store is planning to have a ‘meet and greet’ with Costa some time early next year.

“We were forever seeing photos and updates on Facebook of which Costa coffee store Ivor was visiting,” said Chris Weston, PR ambassador at Blackpole. “His love for Costa coffee and his updates on Facebook were the inspiration for Costa’s name. Ivor touched so many people in that time and everyone, new and old, knew him.

“He is sadly missed by all the colleagues who knew him and not a moment goes by without us thinking of him. His legacy now lives on in Costa and we’re delighted and proud to be able to do this.

“As you can imagine we are all really excited about the meet and greet we’ll be having at the store in the New Year.” He said the store raised the money by having collections, table top sales, cake-baking and dress-up days.