There has been much local agitation on Mill Road (Cambridge) about a proposed new Tesco store which, it is claimed, will jeopardise the many small individual shops in the area.

But although some of these businesses are indeed excellent – such as Al Amin, Black Cat Café and Andrew Northrop Butchers – others are not. And some of the worst shops are those which Tesco would be most likely to threaten, dreary Kwik-E-Mart chains of various sorts selling overpriced and poor quality food and wine.

One message on an ‘anti’ site was complaining about the ‘gentrification’ of the area. I found this objection baffling as the kind of small independent shops which campaigners are so keen on are themselves the a reflection of Mill Road’s rising house prices and increasingly middle class home owners.

In fact I’m sure that many older, more traditional, residents, who perhaps don’t care for health food shops, trendy cafes, Italian delis and hippy bookshops, would be very pleased to have a Tesco round the corner, particularly if they don’t have access to a car.

And I expect that many of those against a Mill Road Tesco regularly drive to an out of town supermarket. Why shouldn’t the same opportunity be extended to less mobile residents?

Finally, it’s by no means always the case that big chain stores drive out small, individual shops. Recently a new business on Mill Road used better stocks, aggressive marketing and competitive pricing to drive out a long established rival. The victor was independent Mr Stacey’s Most Excellent Video Emporium – and the loser was Blockbuster, the world’s largest chain of DVD rental stores.