Tesco bosses will have no doubt read reports over the weekend in at least one national newspaper suggesting shareholders want CEO Philip Clarke to launch a full-out onslaught on price in the run-up to Christmas.

The call, presumably, was for prices to go down, not up, but today it fell to UK managing director Chris Bush and UK commercial director John Scouler to announce that some Tesco products in its Finest range would be going in the opposite direction. Some 200 products are getting the chop and there will be 400 brand spanking new ones in an overhaul of a range first launched 15 years ago.

It’s a relaunch aimed firmly at those who like to sit down with a Finest steak and a bottle of decent New Zealand Pinot Noir to watch Downton Abbey, rather than those making every little help as they struggle against mounting food prices. Mind you, Bush was at pains today to point out that this was not simply a land grab on the premium sales ground dominated in recent years by Waitrose.

“It’s not about fighting back against anyone, it’s about doing the right thing for our customers and improving our own offer,” he said – repeatedly – at today’s launch, held in a wonderfully un-Tesco-like venue next to the Southbank, more like being on the set of Saturday Kitchen than previous corporate affairs.

But amid all the tantalising smells and tastes, there was the sense that Bush knows all too well Tesco finds itself attacked on opposite fronts. With the likes of Waitrose leaving the Finest concept looking outdated and tired, the discounters are continuing to snap at Tesco’s heels on price and value for money. It was interesting to hear Scouler admit today that Tesco was constantly looking to improve its ranges - and that includes Everyday Value.

One thing is for sure, the products in the Finest range, including a mouth-watering new Indian range of ready meals, 22 new Finest wines and even a line of freshly foraged mushrooms – a business that one journalist helpfully pointed out could prove deadly if not left to the experts – are more in tune with the tone of Tesco’s recent Love Every Mouthful Campaign than Everyday Value.

However, the jury is out on whether “made by passionate people”, the strapline for its new TV campaign, will become the new ELH.

The real test for Bush boils down to whether Tesco can start harnessing the personalised ranges and localised store offerings it has been trialling for years now, without ever fully exploiting.

If it can, then what some analysts regard as its weakness – that it is effectively stuck in the middle of two successful models in an age when it is either austerity or premium that wins – could soon start looking like its biggest asset.

Should Tesco grow its Finest sales by double digits (as Bush would like) and still find the money to attack its rivals on price, Tesco may yet evolve its business model. But that is also going to require patience from shareholders, an ingredient they are notoriously short of.

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