Dave Lewis smiles wryly and buries his head in his right hand. Our interview hasn’t even started yet. The mere mention of this Retail Week honour – coupled with the suggestion that he is ‘the man who saved Tesco’ – has prompted him to hide away momentarily and gather his thoughts.

As he sits back upright in his chair, cheeks containing slightly more colour than they did a few moments earlier, Lewis looks genuinely uncomfortable, almost embarrassed, at being named the winner of this year’s AlixPartners Outstanding Contribution to Retail Award.