List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom

Tesco is the largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom.

This is a list of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom. Grocery sales in the UK are dominated by Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons. These, dubbed the "big four", had a combined market share of 73.2% of the UK grocery market in the 12 weeks ending 4 January 2015,^[1] a decline from 74.1% in 2007.^[2] Discounters Aldi and Lidl have seen a combined rise in market share from 4.8% to 8.3% over that time, while upscale grocer Waitrose's share rose from 3.9% to 5.1%. As of KANTAR data published on 24 March 2019, the market share is dominated by Tesco, with Asda being second, Sainsbury's third and Morrisons fourth.

The London Co-operative Society opened Britain's first fully self-service store in January 1948 in Manor Park, London.^[3] Premier Supermarkets, a subsidiary of Express Dairies, opened the UK's first supermarket in Streatham, South London in 1951.^[4] In early 2017, Tesco announced a deal to merge with Booker, the UK's largest wholesale food retailer,^[5] while Aldi became the 5th biggest supermarket.^[6]

List of current UK supermarket chains[]

Supermarket	Image	Founded/ came to UK	Owned by	Market share (%)			Number of stores	Types of stores	Notes
				2020[7]	2007[2]	2000[8]
Aldi		1990	Aldi Süd GmbH	8.0	2.6	1.5	830		No frills supermarket
Asda		1949	TDR Capital (50%) Zuber Issa (25%) Mohsin Issa (25%)	14.5	16.6	14.1	603	Asda Supercentre Asda Superstore Asda Supermarket	Founded from the merger of Associated Dairies and the Asquith family owned Queens Supermarket.
B&M express		2018	B&M	-	-	-	20		Conversion of Heron Foods under new faceplate.[9]
Booths		1847	Booth Family and staff	-	-	-	28		Found in Lancashire,Greater Manchester,Cumbria, Yorkshire, and Cheshire.
Budgens		1872	Booker Group,[10] part of Tesco Plc	-	0.4	0.4	190		Found in England and Wales, with stores up to 10,000 square feet (930 m2)
Co-op Food		1844	Various consumers' co-operatives	6.8	4.4	5.4	4,022		Identities shared by about 20 retail co-operatives, including: The Co-operative Group East of England Co-operative Society Midcounties Co-operative Central England Co-operative Scotmid See also: The Co-operative Group#List of corporate members
Farmfoods		1955	UK private company	-	0.5	-	320
Fulton's Foods		1974	Poundland	-	-	-	100		Small supermarket chain based in South Yorkshire with branches across the Midlands and North of England. Purchased by Poundland in October 2020.[11]
Heron Foods		1979	B&M	-	-	-	290		Primarily frozen foods; operates stores throughout the Midlands and the North in 2017 Cooltrader were rebranded as Heron foods, five years after being sold to that company.[12]
Iceland		1970	UK private company	2.4	1.6	2.8	994	Iceland The Food Warehouse	First store opened at Oswestry, Shropshire in 1970
Lidl		1994	Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG	6.0	2.2	1.3	760		No frills supermarket
Marks & Spencer		1884	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	-	4.3[13]	-	852		Clothing and food retailer
Morrisons		1899	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	10.1	11.2	4.9	542	Morrisons (superstores) Morrisons Daily	Fourth biggest supermarket in the UK. From 2011 to 2015 also operated M Local (later MyLocal) convenience stores.
Ocado		2002	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	1.7	-	-	0		Online only, product supply partnership with M&S.
Sainsbury's		1869	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	14.9	16.2	17.9	1,415	Sainsbury's (superstores) Sainsbury's Local Sainsbury's On the go
Tesco		1919	Publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange	26.8	31.6	25.0	3,443 (UK)	Tesco Extra Tesco Superstores Tesco Metro Tesco Express Jack's One Stop Premier	Premier shops are independently owned stores operating under the "Premier" symbol owned by Tesco plc acquired with the purchase of Booker Group. In May 2021, Tesco announced the rebranding of its Metro stores as either Tesco Express or Tesco.
Waitrose & Partners		1904	John Lewis Partnership	4.9	3.9	2.7	344	Waitrose Little Waitrose John Lewis Foodhall Food, Fashion & Home Food & Home Welcome Break outlets (motorway services)

List of defunct UK supermarket chains[]

These supermarkets are either no longer trading, have been renamed, or have been taken over and rebranded.

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (April 2016)

Supermarket	Image	Founded / came to UK	Fate	Closed	Notes
APT Stores					Chain of small supermarkets with the catchphrase The Store with More.[14]
Bateman & Sons			Bought by Budgens	1973	Chain of 31 supermarkets and 17 self-service stores[15]
Bejam		1968	Bought by Iceland	1989	Frozen foods
Big W		1998	Discontinued, rebranded as Woolworths	2004	21 store chain of megastores styled after Walmart in America; 7 of the stores were sold to Asda and Tesco (the stores that had permission to stock groceries) and the remaining 14 stores were rebranded and downsized under the regular Woolworths banner.
Bishops Stores			Bought by Budgens[16]	1984	63 stores in south east England[15]
BP Safeway		1962	Dissolved following Safeway takeover by Morrisons		Partnership between BP and Safeway, listed as Equinox retailing; some stores now Tesco Express
Brian Ford's Discount Store		1975	Bought by Tesco in 2004	2010	Opened by Brian Ford after the sale of the family Ford & Lock business to Gateway in 1974. The business opened in the former Deveres Kensington engineering building in Barnstaple, Devon expanding with an extension in 1981. The business was based on the 'cash & carry' principle. The business was purchased by Tesco in 2004 but continued to be run as Brian Fords until permission was gained to build a Tesco Extra[17]
Brierleys Supermarkets			Went into receivership in 1974.[15] Superseded by Hillyards supermarket		Embrionic supermarket chain founded by Frank Brierley, a former market trader in Northamptonshire, offering very low prices with a moderate choice of products; on occasions the owner would set up a market stall right in the middle of the supermarket. Launched a own brand range with the pirate logo. [18][19][20]
Burton Supermarkets			Bought by Fine Fare		Small Nottinghamshire based supermarket chain purchased by Fine Fare and re-branded[21]
Capital Freezer Centres			Now owned by Farmfoods		Chain of freezer stores located in England and Scotland; owned by United Biscuits since 1979; a management buyout happened in 1989[22][23]
J.C. Carline			Became part of Fine Fare		Supermarket chain of around 40 stores owned by grocers William Cussons. Cussons were purchased by Great Universal Stores in 1962. The business was sold to Associated British Foods and integrated into it's subsidiary Fine Fare[24][25][26][27]
Carrefour		1970s	UK business sold to Gateway/Somerfield, then later to Asda	1990	French retailer went into partnership with Wheatsheaf and Distribution & Trading Ltd.[15]
Cartier's Superfoods		c.1970	Bought by Tesco	1979	Small Kent based supermarket chain taken over by Tesco[28]
Cater Brothers		1881	Became part of Presto	1979	Henry John Cater founded the grocery and provisions business in Mile End, London 1881. Cater Brothers were a South East-based chain. When their first supermarket (Bromley,Kent) opened in 1958 it was the largest in the UK. In 1972 they were bought out by Debenhams after the death of the chairman Leslie Cater in the same plane crash that killed F J Wallis. In 1979 Debenhams sold the chain to Allied Suppliers who re-branded the stores under their Presto brand.
Cave Austin and Company		1896	Taken over by Burton, Son and Sanders in 1963. Purchased by Moore Stores in 1966.[29]	1964	Cave Austin and Co., Ltd was a chain of Grocery Stores and Cafés in the South East of England. At its height, there were over fifty branches over South-East London, North-East London, Kent, and Surrey as well as cafés in many major South Coast resorts such Deal in Kent and St Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings in Sussex.
Challenge Supermarket			Became part of Frank Dee		Supermarket based in Yorkshire owned by Wheatsheaf and Distribution & Trading Ltd,[15] that was purchased by Frank Dee in the 1980s and incorporated into the chain.[30]
Cooltrader			Bought out by Heron Foods	2017	Opened in Wrexham, founded by Iceland founder Malcolm Walker.[31] Cooltrader became part of Iceland after Malcolm Walker's takeover of that business, then sold in 2012 to Heron Foods. The location In Shrewsbury still has the cooltrader branding[12]
Coopers & Co			Bought by Fine Fare	1955	Scotland based supermarket and grocers chain bought by Fine Fare and re-branded as Coopers Fine Fare
Cordon Bleu		1964[32]	Owned by Argyll Supplies		Chain of freezer shops owned by Argyll Supplies; stores were re-branded under the Lo-cost or Presto name[15]
County Stores			Sold to Gateway, converted to Somerfield	1990
Crazy Prices			Bought by Tesco		Associated British Foods owned Northern Ireland group
Dalgety Freezer Centres			Bought by James Gullivers Argyll Supplies		38 freezer centre bought by James Gulliver and added to Argyll Supplies Cordon Bleu business.[33][15]
David Greig			Bought by Fitch Lovell		Merged into Key Markets
DEE Discount Stores			Re-branded as Gateway, later Somerfield now owned by Co-op		Chain of supermarkets based in North East of England; parent company Linfood Holdings purchased the smaller Gateway chain and re-branded stores as Gateway and the parent company as Dee Corporation
Dewhurst Freezer Food Centres					Chain of 52 freezer stores.[15]
Downsway Supermarkets			Bought by Fine Fare	1978	East Anglian based supermarket group with 80 stores owned by Vestey Group; sold in 1978 and converted to Fine Fare stores. Company dissolved in 1980.[34]
Elmo			Bought by Fine Fare		Small chain of 28 stores based in East Anglia and the South of England; bought for £1m by Fine Fare; rebranded as Fine Fare
Fairway		c.1960s	Bought by Frank Dee	1980s	Doncaster based chain of supermarkets bought by Frank Dee in 1980s and converted into that chain[35]
Fine Fare		1951	Bought by Gateway	1986	Britain's third supermarket until the 1980s behind Tesco and Sainsburys; bought by Gateway Corp. in 1986 and shops rebranded as Gateway by 1988
Food Giant		1970s		1990s	Originally part of Somerfield group, all stores converted to Kwik Save following the Somerfield/Kwik Save merger
Ford & Lock		1960	Sold to Gateway	1974	36 shops across south-west England; owner Brian Ford went on to open a new store in his own name[36]
Freeze Fair					66 freezer store chain owned by Jobs Dairies bought by Argyll Supplies and added to Cordon Bleu chain[33]
Freezeway			Bought by Farmfoods		Small chain of freezershops bought by Farmfoods[23]
FreshXpress		2007	Administration in 2008, liquidated in 2009	2009	Smaller stores of former Kwik Save chain; bought out by management team led by Brendan Murtagh
Frank Dee Supermarkets			Re-branded as Gateway, later Somerfield now owned by Co-op		Chain of supermarkets based in North East of England; parent company Linfood Holdings purchased the smaller Gateway chain and re-branded stores as Gateway and the parent company as Dee Corporation
Galbraith supermarkets		1894	Bought by Allied Suppliers, then Argyll Group		Scottish chain
Gateway Foodmarkets		1950	Rebranded as Somerfield	1992
Grandways			Some stores sold to Argyll Group for their Presto chain and Kwik Save, remainder renamed Jacksons	1992/3	Regional in Yorkshire
GT Smith			Bought by Co-operative Group	2002	Regional in West Yorkshire
Haldanes		2009	(including UGO stores)	2011	Went into administration 2011
Hanburys		1889	Bought by Co-Op	1997	Started in 1889 when Jeremiah Hanbury opened a small store in Market Street, Farnworth, selling butter and bacon. In 1929, the business was bought by Bolton wholesale grocers E.H. Steele Ltd. In 1997 the 31 Hanburys stores, which cover the north-west, including 8 in Bolton, were acquired by United Norwest Co-op and subsequently re-branded.
Hodgson & Hepworth					South Yorkshire grocery chain based in Doncaster. Supermarket at St Sepulchre Gate. Purchased by Fine Fare, closed in 1979 and became a Primark.[37][38]
Hillards		1880	Bought by Tesco	1988	Several locations throughout Midlands, North East
Hintons			Bought by Argyll Foods to become part of Presto		Mainly in North East England and Yorkshire
Homefare Supermarket					Based in former Wickhams Department Store building on Mile End Road.[39]
Home and Colonial Stores		1883	Bought by Cavendish Foods	1972	Acquired Lipton's (1931), Galbraith's (1954), Andrew Cochrane, A. Massey and Sons, R. and J. Templeton and Vye and Son. Converted to Presto or Lo-Cost stores
Hollis Supermarkets					Former Grocery business based in Norfolk and Suffolk which opened several supermarkets, including a store in the former Boundary Garage on Hellesdon and the current site of Wilkinson in Gorleston.[40][41]
Imperial Stores			Bought by International	1977	Grocery store group in South Buckinghamshire. Purchased by International Stores in 1949. High Wycombe branch converted to a supermarket in 1963. Closed when International Stores bought Price-rite chain which had a store opposite.[42]
Irwin's Stores			Bought by Tesco
International		1874	Bought by Dee Corporation	1996	Stores were re-branded gateway or sold off to competitors
Jacksons			Bought by J Sainsbury	2008	See also Grandways, above, which was originally part of the same group. Stores originally traded under the Jacksons name, and were slowly converted to the Grandways brand. After the sale to Sainsbury, the Jackson name was revived for a chain of smaller stores in the Wm Jackson until they were sold and were re-branded Sainsbury Local.
Kenton Supermarkets					Small chain based in North West of England
Key Markets			Bought by Dee Corporation		Created by food giant Fitch Lovell. Re-branded as Gateway.
Kibby's Supermarkets					Chain of supermarkets bought by Unigate. Stores were sold off to various companies including WM Low and International Stores.
Kwik Save		1959	Brand now owned by Costcutter		Company purchased by Somerfield in 1998. Name and 177 stores sold by Somerfield in 2006 but went into administration in 2007.
Laws Stores		c.1890s	Bought by Wm Low for £7.1 million in 1985	1985	Chain of supermarkets focused on North East England
Lennons Supermarkets		1958	Bought by Dee Corporation		Chain of Supermarkets based in North East. Started as small chain of grocers but opened first supermarket in 1956 in Widnes. Bought by the Dee Corporation before being re-branded as Gateway.
Leos			Rebranded Co-operative Pioneer		Name given to larger co-operative stores during the 1980s
Liptons		1871	Bought by Allied Suppliers		Converted to Presto or Lo-Cost stores
Lo-Cost			Converted to Safeway. Some stores sold to other chains e.g. Kwik Save.
		1921	Bought by Co-operative Retail Services	1995	Trading name of F and A E Lodge. Founded in Huddersfield by Albert and Frank Lodge growing to more than 30 shops, mainly in market halls in West Yorkshire and Lancashire by the early 1960s. Opening first supermarket in a converted cinema in Marsh, followed by another converted cinema at Waterloo. Market hall shops were then closed with other supermarket branches opening in Meltham, Huddersfield Town Centre, Crossland Moor, Lepton, Darwen, and finally Honley and Holmfirth in 1975. In later 1960s Clough Mill in Birkby bought with plans for 90,000 sq ft hypermarket. Objections delayed opening until 1978 and it was sold to Asda in 1980. Remaining stores in management buyout in 1991 for more than £5 million.[43] Chain sold to Co-operative Retail Services in March 1995.[44]
Lowfreeze			Bought by Bejam		Small chain of freezer shops bought by Bejam[23]
Mac Fisheries			Bought by Dee Group	1978	Wet fish shops closed
Mainstop			Acquired by Gateway	1981
Moore Stores			Bought by Cavenham and added to Allied Suppliers group	1976	Chain of small supermarkets based in the North East of England which had a turnover of £53m in 1969/70[45] Rebranded either Liptons or Presto.
Netto		1990	Bought by Asda in 2010 for £778M from Dansk Supermarked Group. 147 stores were rebranded in 2011 as Asda local stores. The remaining 47 stores have been sold off to other companies such as Morrisons and new convenience store UGO and other retailers due to competition laws. Netto then returned to UK, with a partnership with Sainsbury's and is initially opening 15 stores in the north of England.[46] In July 2016, Sainsbury's ended the joint venture, scrapping the Netto name in the UK once again.	2011	Was a no frills supermarket. On 30 September 2011, Netto UK ceased trading. In 2014, the supermarket announced they would be returning to the UK with 15 stores.[46]
Normans supermarkets			Bought by Plymco
Normid			Rebranded Co-op		Was owned by United Co-operatives
Norco			Rebranded Co-op		Aberdeen based co-operative society
Orchard Frozen Foods			Bought by Iceland	1986	Chain of freezer centres based in the South East of England
Premier Supermarkets			Bought by Mac Fisheries	1965	Subsidiary of Express Dairies, opened UK's first supermarket in Streatham, South London in 1951.[4] Sold after losing out on purchase of Irwin's stores to Tesco
Presto		1977	After buying out Safeway, all stores were converted to Safeway	1998
Price Rite					Chain of stores purchased by British American Tobacco[47] and incorporated into International Stores; stores re-branded as International Stores
Quality Fare			Bought by the Co-operative Group
Queens Supermarkets		1958	Merged with Associated Dairies and GEN to form ASDA	1965	Small chain of supermarkets started by Asquith family in Pontefract. In 1965 merged with Associated Dairies and purchased the GEN brand, relaunching as ASDA Queens, before becoming ASDA. ASDA is an abbreviation of ASquith and DAiries.
Rainbow			Discontinued, rebranded as parent Co-op
Richway Supermarkets					Retail chain operating in South of England and the Isle of Wight
Safeway		1962	Bought by Morrisons	2005	Safeway Compact stores sold to Somerfield. Was still trading under Safeway in Channel Islands until becoming Waitrose in 2010.
Sainsbury's Freezer Centres		1974	Bought by Bejam	1986	Sainsburys opened the chain of freezer shops to try and compete with the new style of food store, with the first store opening in Southbourne near Bournemouth. By 1980 there was 21 freezer centres, but these were sold off in 1986 to Bejam.
Sainsbury's Savacentre		1977	Discontinued, Rebranded Sainsbury's	2005	Savacentre was a joint project started by Sainsburys and BHS to compete in Hypermarket scene. Sainsburys added when BHS pulled out of the company.
Saverite		1968	Bought by West Midlands Co-operative Society which later became Mid-counties Co-operative after a merger with Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-operative	2000	Shropshire based grocery business started in 1869. Renamed Saverite in 1968 (from Morris & Co) and expanded into supermarkets. Sold to Mid-Counties Co-operative in 2000.[48]
Schofield & Martin			Rebranded Waitrose	c.1965	Small chain of grocers based in South Essex purchased by Waitrose in 1944. Had the first self-service supermarket store within the Waitrose group in 1951.
Shoppers Paradise			Taken over by Gateway		Discount food store chain created by Associated British Foods from un-profitable Fine Fare stores. Became part of Gateway as part of Fine Fare purchase.
Shopping Giant			Brand name for Co-op stores in the Greater Manchester area.		Brand name for CO-OP
Shop Rite		1972	Bought by Kwik Save, Still trades as ShopRite in the Isle of Man stocking a range of Waitrose & Iceland products as well as locally produced goods	1994	Discount supermarket chain
Smiths Freezer Centres				c.1990s	Small chain of freezer stores located in Essex; went into liquidation during the 1990s
Somerfield		1875	Purchase agreed by the Co-operative Group on 16 July 2008 for £1.56bn; from 2009 many larger stores were sold off and smaller stores rebranded to The Co-operative Food[49]	2011
Solo			Trading name of Gateways - rebranded Somerfield		Trading name created by Gateways
St Catherine's Freezer Centres			Bought by Iceland	1983	Chain of 18 freezer centres located in Bristol and South West area
Stewarts Supermarket Limited			Bought by Tesco		Associated British Foods owned Northern Ireland group
Stitchers Supermarkets			Bought by Downsway		Small chain of supermarkets purchased by Downsway and re-branded
Supernational Stores		1935	Bought by Gateway
Supa-Save		1960	Closed by owners Keddies	1970s	Independent American style superstore opened by Southend's largest department store chain, Keddies, in the former Essoldo cinema. Store was closed in the 70s due to competition from national competitors, and the building demolished and the site used to extend the department store.
Templeton supermarkets		1880	Bought by Allied Suppliers then Argyll Group		Scottish chain, rebranded as Presto
Value Foods		1959	Re-branded as Kwik Save	1965	Opened as a grocery store in Rhyll in 1959, grew into a small supermarket chain operating in North Wales. In 1965 the brand name was changed to Kwik Save.[15]
Victor Value			Bought by Tesco	1968/1986	Independent chain; larger stores were rebranded as Tesco, remaining sold to Bejam in 1986
		1817	Bought by Home & Colonial	1960s	Independent chain of about 40 stores. Originally tea and coffee importers.
Wallis		1955	Bought by Somerfield	2003	Founded by Francis J Wallis of Rainham Essex in 1955. By 1968 there were 38 stores. In 1977 the chain's 100 stores were sold to British American Tobacco and merged with their already owned chain International Stores. The stores were re-branded International. The company officially still existed and was wound up by Somerfield, who had purchased International Stores in 2003.
Wavy Line					Small chain of small supermarkets and convenience stores located in the South and South East of England
Walter Willson			Bought by Alldays		Chain of small supermarkets and convenience stores in the north east of England and Cumbria
Wellworths			Bought by Musgrave Group & Safeway	1997	Northern Ireland supermarket chain split into Supervalu and Safeway
Whelan Discount Stores			Bought by Morrisons for £1.5 million[50]	1978	Chain of supermarkets based in Lancashire started by JJB Sports owner Dave Whelan
Wm Low			Bought by Tesco		Presence in Scotland and northern England
Williamson & Treadgold					Bournemouth based grocers that opened a supermarket at The Hampshire Centre.[51] The store was eventually purchased by Sainsburys.
Woolco		1966	Discontinued, rebranded as Woolworth and later bought by Gateway in 1986	1982	Hypermarket chain started by Woolworth

Waitrose effect[]

Proximity to a supermarket has been widely reported^[52][53][54] to be an amenity that can have a significant effect on residential property prices in Britain. Beginning under Andy Hulme^[55] and continuing under Mike Songer,^[56] the home mortgage unit of Lloyds Bank has published pricing research that examines the premiums commanded by homes in a given neighbourhood against comparables in the same post-code and correlates the difference in price with convenience of access to the various supermarkets. The following table averages information from neighbourhoods across England and Wales, compiled by Lloyds Bank for their 2016 report using supermarket location information from CACI Datalab and house price information from the UK Land Registry.^[57]

See also[]

• List of supermarkets, for supermarkets worldwide
• Kantar Worldpanel - UK grocery market share figures
• List of convenience shops in the United Kingdom
• List of discount shops in the United Kingdom
• List of clothing and footwear shops in the United Kingdom

References[]