[Russ]

This reminds me of one of those "support independent local shops" campaigns from a few years ago.

There was one in 2006 and where I lived at the time was a Spar shop about 200 yards away but a few streets over was a large Tesco store. The Spare was obviously more convenient and easier to get to and I was happy to go there if I needed something they probably had. At the time I was on a strict low-fat/calorie diet and need some skimmed milk for a protein shake. The thing was a lot of the time the Spar had run out of theirs. Tesco always had plenty. It's all very well supporting the 'little guy' but when they become unreliable for what you need it's hard to stay loyal to them all the time.

As for the supermarkets and the milk offers, I wouldn't be surprised if this is just a short-term move on the part of Tesco. The large companies obviously have greater buying power to keep prices low but never to the point where the reductions are be expected to be long-term. It's like with their petrol prices: full-page adverts in the papers announcing price drops of a penny a litre, followed by a very quiet and stealth rise by a penny or so.