577 New 'Big 4' Supermarkets in the UK

**Cyrille** · 22nd December 2010 10:24

A change in the UK that saddens me every time I return to the UK is the loss of local shops.

UK high streets seem so plastic and homogenised these days.

I remember a visit York a couple of years ago. York Minster is just captivating, and the old market area, 'The Shambles' looks beautifully quaint rom afar. Then you get closer and it's just the same old meganames. It's been voted as one of the top places to visit in the UK, but is just one place that seems to have lost a lot of its old charm.

Like a lot of people I suppose, I tend to dislike the concept of the supermarket, but I also tend to shop at them.

However 577 new supermarkets approved over the last two years seems a helluva lot.

Does the country need nearly 400 new Tescos??

BBC News - 'Big four' supermarkets get 577 stores agreed, BBC finds

**Mr Pants** · 22nd December 2010 10:58

Originally Posted by Cyrille

Like a lot of people I suppose, I tend to dislike the concept of the supermarket, but I also tend to shop at them.

Sadly this is why supermarkets virtually have a monopoly in the UK now. People would rather spend less in one big shop than a little more in several smaller shops.

**Anna Key** · 22nd December 2010 11:05

It's a bugger, innit?

I go to a nasty little website forum for the town where I was born. One of the regular topics is the supermarkets. I think there are three of the biggies within 2 miles of each other so I know what you mean. The regulars on the nasty little website bemoan the existence of these places but, as I like to point out: who is shopping at them?

I like supermarkets, but to be truthful, I am often guilty of lapsing into a false nostalgia for shopping, the reality having meant tramping around dismal high streets in the rain - and often things being unavailable.

In the not too distant future, the nasty little website will be able to link Asda, Tesco and Morrisson's to an Islamic takeover plot. It's that kind of a nasty little website for a nasty little town.

**Gadget** · 22nd December 2010 11:29

Yeah, you can't beat the old butchers where you could buy dripping and all the other old faves, haselet, proper black pudding, ETC.

**Mr Pants** · 22nd December 2010 11:45

Originally Posted by Anna Key

In the not too distant future, the nasty little website will be able to link Asda, Tesco and Morrisson's to an Islamic takeover plot. It's that kind of a nasty little website for a nasty little town.

I'm joining.

**Anna Key** · 22nd December 2010 12:51

^LOL!

They type with their hooves. I kid you not, one of the posters took the topic of the proposed sale of the Royal Mail, and within two or three attempts at a sentence managed to stumble to the conclusion: "...the next thing they'll be imposing Sharia law!"

Everyone there has a daily rage-wank about 'our muslim friends.'