The BBC has reported that both Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have been taken to task by the government for illegally “advertising and promoting” tobacco products. Both supermarkets have been displaying posters and digital adverts for Iqos devices, which create a nicotine vapour by heating tobacco with an electric current.
The adverts were first reported on in February this year, with both supermarkets claiming they believed the ads were legal, as the 2002 law banning tobacco advertising defined a tobacco product as something which is “smoked, sniffed, sucked or chewed”. The heated tobacco products do not produce smoke.
Sainsbury’s told the BBC it was in “close contact with the government”, while Morrisons said it would reply “in due course”.
A south-west London borough is the latest to completely ban adverts promoting “unhealthy” food as part of a wider move to improve the nation’s health. Kingston Council is joining 24 other local authorities across the UK by introducing the policy, which will ban adverts for unhealthy products linked to obesity and diabetes.
The ban, as outlined in The Standard, will apply across all council-owned estates and assets. All existing advertising contracts will be reviewed upon renewal, as the council takes on responsibility for ensuring ads comply with the policy. The move follows a joint strategic needs assessment that found diabetes is on the rise in the borough, with 2,000 cases linked to obesity.
The Times reported on the £600m surge in property taxes that is expected to hit supermarkets and retail giants in London’s west end next year, when the government’s property tax changes kick in next year. The reforms, which are designed to “save the high street”, will disproportionately affect larger stores, according to analysis by Colliers.
The tax increases will come on top of the current £11bn business rates bill for the sector in 2025, as well as recent National Insurance increases.
Fortnum & Mason is planning to open its first UK stores outside of London following an increase in customer demand for its high-end grocery items, including luxury teas, biscuits and jam.
It told The Telegraph it was hoping to open a number of locations “up the spine of the country”, as it eyes up “beautiful locations” with “beautiful architecture” for its potential sites.
In keeping with The Grocer’s focus on health and nutrition last week, The Times has reported on the seven UPFs it says are actually good for you, further illustrating the confusion which surrounds the food and wellness conversation in 2025. It describes ultra-processed foods as a “dietary bogeyman”, before citing research that suggests they can contribute to colorectal, breast and ovarian cancers.
The good ones, it says, include sliced bread, plant milk, baked beans, houmous, Marmite (other yeast extracts are available), tomato sauce and fruit juice. Comments below the article show readers remain unconvinced that these foods were ever under fire in the first place.
A long read in The Independent takes a look at what we really know about the long-term effects of weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro (TL:DR – not enough). It warns that the slimming jabs carry a number of as-yet-unrecognised risks to health, with particular warnings around cancers and hormone issues.
Great news for rosé wine this week as much of the UK enters a long-awaited heatwave – or ‘the start of summer’ as it may more accurately be known. A report in The Times revealed that sales of the pink wine soar by as much as 150% when the temperature tips above 20 degrees.
Waitrose describes this as the “rosé tipping point”, where ”Britain’s middle classes start drinking it in large quantities”. It also says the wine is so popular with women that it has been nicknamed “lady petrol”. If that doesn’t put them off then nothing will.
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