Well, it has opened … and yes, so far I have managed to find lots of reasons to (a) shop in Whitecross and (b) go anywhere but Tesco. This is a rant, I admit it, but we already have a Co-op, a butcher, newsagent, baker (real one, actually bakes), florist and several other shops – we even had a greengrocer but it shut when it heard Tesco was moving in. That’s my point. Why did they move in? Not to provide a service to locals that’s for sure and I don’t remember being asked if I wanted it, though we did send a petition saying we didn’t! So all I can do is support the local shops and treat the Tesco like it is cursed – I shall still shop at Tesco, a lot, just not this one, any one of the others in the area actually, but not, under any circumstances, this one!

And how did they manage to get hours of 7-11 and an outside cashpoint when the Co-op was told it couldn’t have them despite being in the same place! I guess I’m just cross, there are plenty of places around here with no shops, or very few shops, who would have begged to have a Tesco Local … Whitecross neither needed one nor wanted one and I fear it will make the local area a worse, rather than a better, place.

If Whitecross Bakery closes I shall be really, really, really annoyed!

Oh and those welcoming vouchers Tesco sent me … I tore them up!