Tesco sponsored report supports Tesco, suprisingly enough.

Nestled on the banks of the River Tawe in everyone's favourite cottage burning principality is a small town known as Ystradgynlais. A town not particularly famous for anything other than hosting the National Eisteddfod in 1954 and having an alarming amount of Welsh speakers.

Ystradgynlais is apparently about to get a Tesco and to justify its erection the official supermarket of the Labour government commissioned a study into what impact putting a bloody great big supermarket selling everything from Apples to Zucchini (alright, I know!) would have on local business.

Now you'd expect a study that they'd paid for into the viability of siting a Forbidden City in a quaint yet slightly dull market town to be ever so slightly biased in their favour but I'm not quite sure how they could possibly expect to sell this, which actually appears word for word in the report:

"the vitality and viability of these comparatively small centres will not be materially harmed by the proposed Tesco store.
"On the contrary, Ystradgynlais is predicated to benefit from a net increase in turnover arising from linked shopping trips to the centre associated with new shoppers attracted to Tesco and Ystradgynlais."

So Emperor Palpatine, sorry, Sir Terry, how's that then?

You put a shop in that sells everything, from cheap lager (a big seller in Jack land one would imagine) through to rope (for Bridgend away days) and you actually believe that it wont have an impact on pre-existing businesses that not only supply a commercial retail need amongst the local consumer base but actively support the idea of a community and support keeping that community active, together and social. Not insular, utilitarian and blue and white bloody striped!

Alright, on the upside it will create some jobs and they will build some retail units to cover the three items they don't sell but to suggest that it won't harm the local area is surely preposterous? People of Ystradgynlais, if you pass this, wave goodbye to your butchers, your bakers and your electrical shops as the Evil Empire will without question lead to their demise.



V.