Communities All Over the UK Say NO to Tescoisation

This is a small collection of the many communities throughout the UK who have publicly said 'NO' to Tesco trying to muscle-in in their towns. Some have since won and some have lost but it's clear the strength of feeling against the supermarket.

The People of Ainsdale Voice Their Rejection


Stokes Croft, Bristol


Mill Road Cambridge


Ilkley Moor

Market Town Fights Off Tesco Bid

Hadleigh, a market town in Suffolk [pop 7,239] has just fought a bid by Tesco to plonk a store in it's town centre - and won.

A recent article in the Daily Mail explains that:

"Campaigners say the victory is an important marker in the war against the 'Tesco-isation' of Britain - as the supermarket giant marches into the country's high streets, threatening to destroy traditional life by undercutting small shops and forcing them to close."

And adds:

"As Britain’s wealthiest retailer, it made profits of £3.4billion last year and now accounts for £1 in every £3 spent in the UK on groceries. But with its expansion has come increasingly vocal opposition. Local groups across the country are campaigning to stop Tesco stores opening in their neighbourhoods".

Some of the objections to the likes of Tesco stem from the model of central distribution that they use. I nthe case of Tenbury, if a theoretical Tesco store wanted to stock a bottle of local apple juice then they couldn't just send a van around to the farm down the road.. Instead they'd have to purchase and take the stock down to Avonmouth - their huge storage depot. When the stock was then needed on the shelf if would then be driven all the way back to Tenbury - a round trip of a ridiculous 160 miles before the apple juice could be placed on a Tenbury Tesco shelf - which is food miles gone crazy. As it happens it may all be academic anyway as Tesco claim that they want to be the 'No. 1 in sourcing locally' - the reality after the launch of their campaign in 2007 though is that all they really retail is 'regional milk' - milk from the local region. this means in Tenbury's case that milk from herds the other side of Birmingham could technically still be called 'regional milk'..

The local food issue is clearly important to the people of Hadleigh too as:

Aside from the friendly service, Mrs Byrne – like many townsfolk – also appreciates the fact that Hadleigh’s shops stock local produce which means local farmers benefit and the local economy is kept alive.

‘Yesterday I bought cherries from the farm shop. They were grown two miles away – rather than being brought in by a supermarket from miles away or from abroad. The same principle goes with the butcher who can always tell me exactly where his meat came from,’ she says.

And finally the local townsfolk of Hadleigh sum up:

‘every little (victory) helps’ in the war against the creeping Tesco-isation of Britain.