All articles by Steve Farrell
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NewsPoundland owner appoints Alvarez & Marsal to advise on sale
Gordon Brothers has chosen Alvarez & Marsal to run an auction of discount chain
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NewsM&S Food opens new, bigger airside store at Heathrow T5
The new airside store at Terminal 5 is in a more prime location, at the entrance to the departure lounge
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NewsPoundland like-for-like sales continue to fall in nine months to June
Like-for-like volume sales rose by 5% over the first three quarters of its current financial year, but price drops meant it did not feed through to value sales growth
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NewsBoots censured by watchdog over ‘free No7 face lotion’ newspaper ad
A front-page ad in The Mail on Sunday directed readers to a voucher inside the paper to be redeemed for a free tube of lotion from ‘any Boots store today’
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NewsPoundland owner exploring a sale a year on from buying the retailer
Gordon Brothers is said to be in talks with advisers over an auction process for the retailer
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NewsM&S declares backing for Let’s Respect Retail campaign
The retailer has claimed to be ‘the first major UK grocer to publicly support’ the initiative
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NewsLegitimate vape shops ‘smeared’ by government rhetoric, claims trade body
UK Vaping Industry Association director general John Dunne was reacting to HMRC’s call for the public to report ‘firms breaking the law and blighting the high street, from vape shops to barbers’
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NewsWorldpanel: shoppers lapping up promotions despite calls for clampdown
Deals were included in 31.3% of grocery sales in the four weeks to 9 August 2026, their highest level this year, as shoppers sought to save money
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NewsBRC calls on government to ‘back the Saturday job’ with reforms
A BRC-commissioned Opinium poll of 2,000 UK adults found four out of five believed part-time work, including the traditional Saturday job, was important in helping young people into employment
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NewsTrade bodies baulk at ‘eye-watering’ £3bn cost of zero-hour contract reforms
Government analysis has suggested the cost of the reforms to employers could range from £350m to £2.9bn a year
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Analysis & FeaturesThe juiciest revelations in the CMA’s decision on Aldi and Lidl
Behind a front of ‘nothing to see here, we’re just the same old limited-range discounters’, it turns out Aldi and Lidl have changed rather fundamentally over the past 15 or so years, with potential regulatory consequence
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NewsAldi and Lidl understated range size by 40%, according to CMA
The revelation is in the CMA’s 80-page decision that Aldi and Lidl are no longer limited assortment discounters and should face the same competition rules as large grocery retailers such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s
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NewsAndy Burnham unveils new curbs on vape and betting shops
The PM is tightening up planning rules that have made it easier for vape and slot machine shops to spread rapidly
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NewsM&S calls for fibre labelling rules to allow ‘everyday language’
The retailer has told the health secretary it wants to say ‘improves gut health’ instead of ‘faecal bulk’ or ‘intestinal transit time’
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NewsAldi and Lidl should face same rules as rivals, CMA decides
The provisional decision has been delivered alongside a new call for views
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NewsAldi offers grants up to £3,000 to sports clubs in England and Wales
The discounter is extending a scheme that has already awarded more than £500,000 to over 650 grassroots sports clubs in Scotland over 10 years
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NewsLidl extends work with Olio food sharing app to 200 stores
Lidl said its work so far with Olio had saved around 1,200kg of food from going to waste a week
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NewsAldi and Lidl nearly equal in race for UK space, data shows
The figures represent Lidl’s preference for slightly larger stores, as well as it creeping up on Aldi in store numbers
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NewsSupermarkets ‘overlooking’ essential small charities, report finds
Lidl and Neighbourly surveyed around 900 charities and found 95% thought smaller, less visible causes were being overlooked
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Comment & OpinionLidl’s scan & shop system works perfectly… I can’t believe it!
This is a discounter, with tighter margins to protect than Tesco, Sainsbury’s or Waitrose – and that’s what makes the experience so incongruous