TESCO is to build branded villages in Bow, Streatham and Woolwich in which people would enter a Big Brother-style world where their lifestyles could come under the supermarket’s microscope.


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“If they provide the mortgage, if they act as estate agent, if they provide a credit card, if they sell you a house, they will end up with more personal information about you than the Government,” Josh Ryan-Collins of the New Economic Foundation told The Times.

“There’s a sense that they are using their market power to dominate aspects of the economy.”

Tesco’s scheme in Woolwich is the biggest of its London villages, with 900 homes and a civic centre joining the more usual supermarket.

Similar developments in Bromley-by-Bow (featuring 900 homes plus a school and a hotel) and Streatham (200 homes and an ice-rink) are also in the works, with the one in Streatham already handed planning permission.

“Through innovative mixed-use developments such as Bromley-by-Bow and Streatham we are able to invest and create jobs in areas that many other developers cannot and will not,” said a Tesco spokesperson.