Dave Lewis, the new Tesco chief executive, today announced that up to 2,000 people could lose their jobs when the group closes the 43 unprofitable stores. These consist of 18 Express stores, 12 Metro stores, seven superstores and six Homeplus stores.
Among the stores closing are superstores in Doncaster and Kirkcaldy, Metro stores in such as in Bicester in Oxfordshire and the smaller Express convenience store on South Tottenham High Road. But which ones should have got the chop?
Some commentators were surprised that the Haggerston Tesco Express, once dubbed “the worst place on Earth” was not included.
The branch has a history of bad PR and local residents have regularly used Twitter to name and shame its faults.
@Tesco Started to eat this& thought it tasted off - IT IS! Despite being sold it today in Haggerston. Horrible : ( pic.twitter.com/HLDQZYwhgG
— Amy Williams (@amytweetedthis) November 20, 2014
They might not have coriander, spinach or potatoes but thank gawd Haggerston's @Tesco has instant weirdo glasses pic.twitter.com/Dqx7saRmDx
— Ashley Armstrong (@AArmstrong_says) January 12, 2015
Haggerston Tesco truly deserves it's own blog. Worst tesco. Ever. #tesco #everylittlehelps ? pic.twitter.com/vjjjP98eTd
— Hayley Yu (@HayleyYu) July 27, 2014
James Allan, who has lived in Hackney for 10 years, is the man who dubbed Haggerston Tesco “the worst place on earth”. He started a blog about the branch in Kingsland Road, Haggerston, which went viral and triggered a response from Tesco bosses within 12 hours.
The blog states:
The Tesco Express in Haggerston, E8 is simply the worst place on Earth. The place is a complete disaster. This blog catalogues why.”
Allan, 30, said he created the photoblog at 1am one Tuesday after being kept awake by mice setting off the store’s burglar alarm, according to Hackney Gazette, the local paper.
The blog features images of empty shelves, misplaced cans of beer on the lunchtime meal-deal shelves, and unmanned tills.
Beneath another post of a chaos of crates and boxes, Allan leaves the caption:
HAGGERSTON TESCO IS NOW SELLING MODERN ART IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE.
Speaking about the reaction to the blog Allan said: “I’m glad people find it funny though, that is the most important bit. It is a first world-problem and getting angry about it is just plain silly.
“I would hate to think people thought I was genuinely that riled by a few empty shelves. I thought I’d be constructive with my sleeplessness,” he said. Since then, the blog has been open to public contributions.
A Tesco spokesman said: “We are aware of the blog and agree that this store has not met our high standards.
“We are working with the store to make sure we offer the best possible service for our customers.”
Allan wrote on the blog:
Its very important to mention that a very polite man from Tesco just rang, he apologised unreservedly for the state of the store, explained the measures they were taking to rectify the situation (for the store, not me) and that it was very much a work in progress.
Most importantly THEY’RE GOING TO FIX THE DAMN ALARM!!!!! Bosh!
