Tesco issues: more general coverage

This page is a collection of news stories and other items that we have been sent by members of the public, concerning more general Tesco issues. Our Campaign is not an anti-Tesco campaign per se, but is focussed on the effect a Tesco store would have on Mill Road. However, these items here are believed to be of relevance to some of our website readers. Please contact us if you find other items you think we could add to this page.

Village to close after contributing nothing to local Tesco

[A bit of humour!]

A 1000 year old Oxfordshire village is to close after it was deemed not to be economically viable to the local Tesco superstore. Villagers received the news at a tense public consultation meeting last night when Councillor Shapley revealed that not a single person from the historic village of Stony Bridgeford shops or works in the Tesco store a few hundred metres away. ‘It’s no good being sentimental about these things. In this modern competitive environment, villages either have to pay their way as far as the supermarkets are concerned or face closure.’

NewsBiscuit, 20th December 2008

Authors take on Tesco ‘tyrants’ over Thai legal action

A group of Britain’s leading authors has accused Tesco of using “deeply chilling” tactics to silence its critics.

The Times, April 29, 2008

Tesco sues a second Thai journalist for libel

Tesco in Thailand is suing a second columnist from a Bangkok business newspaper for £1.6m in libel damages.

The Guardian, 18th April 2008

150 more small shops in Tesco invasion

Tesco has been accused of unleashing an “unstoppable invasion” of the high street by stepping up the pace at which it opens neighbourhood stores.

Evening Standard, 15th April 2008

Tesco tipped to see profit up 10%

More than £1 of every £7 spent on the UK High Street goes to Tesco.

BBC News online, Monday, 14 April 2008

Home of Tesco boss ‘should be bulldozed’

Sir Terry Leahy, the multimillionaire chief executive of Tesco, is used to getting what he wants. Under his reign, the supermarket chain has invaded almost every town and city in Britain. But Mr Leahy appears to have met an unlikely match in the shape of Dot Reid, 58. Angered by plans to create a football stadium and Tesco supermarket on land where she lives, Mrs Reid has retaliated by submitting a planning application asking for permission to demolish Sir Terry’s luxury home.

Independent, 12th April 2008

Tesco in secret bid for new eco-town

TESCO is the secret bidder behind an eco-town near Cambridge shortlisted for development by the Government.

Cambridge Evening News, 7th April 2008

Tesco nears complete conquest of UK

Supermarket giant Tesco has taken a step closer to complete retail conquest of the country after buying stores on several remote Scottish isles.

The Guardian, 28th March 2008

Tesco’s £1bn tax avoiding plan – move to the Cayman Islands

Tesco has created an elaborate corporate structure involving offshore tax havens which enables it to avoid paying what could be up to £1bn of tax on profits from the sale of its UK properties.

The Guardian, 27th February 2008

 

Look to Tesco to see the real Britain

Think of “Tesco Towns” and you tend to think of places like Truro, Twickenham, Cambridge or Perth: postcodes where, infamously, more than half the local housekeeping money passes through Tesco’s tills. But the real Tesco Town is not decked out in vine-ripened tomatoes and cocktail beetroots. …

The Telegraph, 15th February 2008

Battery Bargains

Britain’s largest supermarket chain yesterday cut the price of whole ‘standard’ chickens by 60% to just £1.99, in a move that critics argue will impede improvements to the welfare of factory-farmed birds.

Slow Food International, 11th February 2008

Watchdog moves on ‘Tesco towns’

The Competition Commission will this week reveal the details of a tough new planning restriction designed to stem the rise of so-called ‘Tesco towns’, where one supermarket dominates the shopping landscape.

The Guardian, 10th February 2008

Dispatches programme on Channel 4

‘Tesco: the supermarket that’s eating Britain’ is well worth a watch.

Tesco ‘curbs’ its suppliers’ prices

“Suppliers to Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket, have complained that the retailer is not allowing them to increase their prices until the end of its financial year in a bid to keep prices in its stores down.” …

The Telegraph, 2nd February 2008

Tesco plans high street outlets to take on department store chains

“Tesco is plotting an assault on the high street with plans to build department store-style shops to take on the likes of Debenhams, BHS and Marks and Spencer.” …

Financial Times, 22nd January 2008

Award for ‘the company that most ignores opinions of local communities’

“TESCO has won the formal award of ‘the company that most ignores opinions of local communities.'”

ManchesterConfidential.com, the voice of Manchester, 21st January 2008

Supermarkets admit milk price fix

“The supermarkets, along with a number of dairy firms, have agreed to pay fines totalling some £116m after an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) probe. Cases against Tesco and Morrisons will continue after no deal was struck.”

BBC News online, 7th December 2007

Tesco chief ‘is binge godfather’

“Competition Commission research showed Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket group, had underpriced beer and lager during last year’s World Cup by £15.1m.” …

BBC News online, 6th December 2007

Tesco: The Supermarket which ate Westminster

Westminster council has been accused of letting central London become “Tescoland” after giving the go-ahead for its 21st branch in the borough.

Blog: Daithai C, 29th September 2007

Groceries market investigation: Provisional findings report

This is the provisional findings report from the Competition Commission.

Commentary from Tescopoly: The Competition Commission (CC) launched a major investigation into the grocery market in May 2006. The Commission released its provisional Findings at the end of October 2007. It acknowledged problems with the way supermarkets treat farmers and is considering strengthening the Supermarket Code of Practice and introducing a watchdog.

See also our own summary of relevant points.

Report published by the Competition Commission, 31st October 2007

Tesco invades England’s smallest town

“On the one side is Tesco, Britain’s pre-eminent supermarket chain where a 270,000 strong workforce gleans an annual profit of some £2bn from its 2,000 stores each year. On the other is Manningtree, England’s smallest town, home to 700 souls and one of East Anglia’s best preserved Georgian shopping streets.” …

The Independent, 30th October 2007

 

Tesco is Leading the Push for RFID

“For the past year, Tesco has been running trials that put it in violation of an international call for a moratorium on item-level RFID tagging issued by privacy experts from around the world.” …

Boycott Tesco website, a project of CASPIAN, Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering

Bad News from Tesco

“The superstores are on the verge of cornering the news market, with disastrous implications for democracy” …

George Monbiot in the Guardian, 17th May 2005

 

 

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