Pale Monday evening sun sets on the Big Tesco in Bow, a superstore spreadeagled at the edge of an east London A road. In its back corner, beneath Easter signage promising rosemary-speckled chicken and hot cross buns slick with butter, are four empty shelves.
The “Reduced to Clear” section, a chiller between the bakery and rows of Mr Kipling cakes, has been cleared out. Unless you’re in the market for a rather medical-looking half-price unsmoked gammon joint, a solitary Classic Pizza Express La Reine (“was £5.50 NOW £2.64”), or some shrinkflated pork pies, the bargains are gone. Pensioners wheeling trollies, a dad with two toddlers and a young couple in gym kit all sidle by, staring into the striplit void as, gloriously, “It’s Too Late” by Carole King plays on the store radio.
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