The business sense that made Morrisons

‘Ken Morrison held out the white core of a cabbage the size of an orange and said ‘We can sell this for three pence’,’ writes Mick Shannon. Photograph: Ian Nicholson/PA

I met Ken Morrison (Report, 2 February) when I was a Saturday worker at Morrisons while still at school in the early 1970s. He then only had two stores, both in Bradford. One day I was throwing rotten cabbages into a skip. With my manager by his side he asked me to stop, pass him a cabbage and pass him a knife. He cut the end off, removed the rotten leaves, held out this white core of a cabbage the size of an orange and said: “We can sell this for three pence.” I’m sure when he left my manager said “Don’t bother”.

At Morrisons, I did however get the biggest pay rise I’ve ever had and ever will have: 50% from a pound to 30 shillings a day. I don’t think shop/warehouse workers would get that today.
Mick Shannon
Brighouse, West Yorkshire

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