David Prosser: Stand up for small shops

Outlook: Tesco may look like the loser after the Competition Commission recommended yesterday that the Government reforms supermarket planning rules, but the real victims will be those poor old local shop owners.

You can see why the commission is determined to stop grocers opening new stores in places where they are judged to dominate the market – Tesco is in that position in 70 per cent of Britain's 120 or so postcode districts.

But while Asda, Sainsbury's and the rest will now have a better chance of challenging the market leader when it comes to opening larger stores, the new rules will not apply to small city-centre outlets such as the Tesco Express chain. And if it cannot expand into areas using its bigger format stores, you can expect Tesco to carpet towns and cities with Express shops instead.

Where does that leave the small independents the commission is also seeking to protect? Coping with further incursions into their territory from a competitor with huge economies of scale, that's where. Assuming that ministers now take the commission's reforms forward, the future looks even less happy for all those butchers, bakers and candlestickmakers the public always claims to love so much. You'd better start shopping in them soon.