Clapton residents should be applauding Tesco

Local residents are protesting over plans for a Tesco on Lower Clapton Road Photo: © Hackney Citizen

Dear Hackney Citizen

The current upset caused by the arrival of a Tesco on the Lower Clapton Road is really misplaced and a knee-jerk reaction to Brand Tesco. The already established local shops have a faithful clientele and their survival cannot be dependent on the arrival of one rival. Those who seek to remain loyal customers can do so and can turn their backs on any new retail outlet coming to the area.

There are hundreds of new flats that have already been built, or are in the process of being built in the Moorfields Park area. A new mini supermarket is, as we understand, also being built on the Lea Bridge Road next to the old Ship Aground public house to serve this development. Are we aghast at this new mini supermarket opening or do we conveniently save up all our antagonism for Tesco? Are Tesco solely responsible for the decline of the individual High Street shop?

Tell us where it is possible to buy decent meat on Lower Clapton Road, is there a good butcher? Clapton’s residents should be applauding Tesco for making a brave move into their area and should be campaigning for Tesco to make its home here.

As to the question of delivery trucks and the disruption they may cause, well it is a main road and that’s what roads are for.

Presumably the residents noticed the road when they made their decision whether or not to live there, not only that but probably saw it as a local amenity. Lorries and roads are there for delivering the goods which we consume in our droves. If people don’t like roads, then perhaps they shouldn’t live on them, then also perhaps they should do away with their congestion-causing, oil guzzling, polluting cars and hold our politicians to account for engaging in illegal wars and mass murder in order to keep the oil price a few pence lower.

Or would the people prefer the extra couple of pence in their pockets so they can spend it on Tesco cava, Tesco taramasalata and Tesco Kettle Chips for sunny Saturday afternoons in London Fields, while the real victims of capitalism and the poverty gap continue to shoot one another, upsetting their bourgeois picnic hampers?

If this is a genuine concern then those who will be directly affected should try and reach an agreement with the retail outlet over delivery times and noise pollution. A new, city sized Tesco will provide steady jobs and training opportunities and bring convenience and increased normality to the Lower Clapton Road.

As an arts organization Decima are well aware of the anti- Tesco bandwagon promulgated by certain anonymous and fashionable artists. We ask with all due respect if shops such as Waitrose, who genuinely offer fresh fish and meat counters and extensive quality wines, have not put far more small specialist food shops out of business up and down the country than Tesco ever have; but then the people who support this ‘agitational’ type of art, and purchase it for their Notting Hill Gate apartments are far more likely to shop at a Waitrose anyway and therefore never raise a fuss about one coming to their area.

Decima will be holding a celebration of the new Tesco opening, mounting a celebratory art show featuring Derrick Welsh and Simon Ould on the day the new Tesco opens, bringing joy and expanded choice to the people of Clapton, those who do not want to come can go and see the anti-Tesco art on the Essex Road,

Tesco is not the cause of hypocrisy and breakdown within our society, it’s a symptom, and if there wasn’t the market for it in Clapton they would not build it. The very same people who are up in arms will almost certainly be going there along with us for cheaper milk, fresher eggs, a greater selection of biscuits and choppier chops.

If these simple offerings are beyond the local shops’ abilities, then we must really ask ourselves which one is putting profit before the customer, as I suspect sourcing ever cheaper and dodgier suppliers in order to sell at a greater profit is near the top of the list of priorities for the local shops.

If people really want to halt the increased homogenisation of our high streets and increased dependence on corporate capitalism then perhaps they should look into changing their attitude and approach towards life in general, instead of this token anti-tesco nonsense. Let them build Tesco and then exercise your vote with your feet – not just in Clapton, but on every high street. And not just in the high street, but in your choice of phone provider, washing powder, methods of transport, community cohesion and even down to the choice of art for your middle-class walls.

David C. West
Alex Chappel
Larry Mcginity
Mark Reeves

Decima Gallery, Old Street

Related story: Clapton residents slam Tesco plans