Andrew Gray is a Harrogate advocate, entrepreneur and dad. Formerly a solicitor who founded and ran a local law firm, he is chief executive of political tech firm Suffrago and a local content creator.

Until the new Tesco opened — and I’m on a mission to rename it “Tesco 2” — we poor locals of Harrogate have had to suffer the indecency of a decade-long libel. So, in my new role as an opinion writer, I’m setting the record straight.

Quite factually, it was never true that “Harrogate was the only town in England without a Tesco”, because we’ve had a little one slap bang in the middle of town for too many years to count. We also had a larger one on Station Bridge.

On top of that, we’ve had Tesco deliveries for years. A non-story, if ever there was one. Oh, and don’t forget the Tesco Express as you approach Starbeck.

And, let me also put to bed the myth that we locals came out with pitchforks over Tesco 2. If anything, we wanted the old gas works to be regenerated ASAP. We are many things in Harrogate: proud, certainly, but parochial we are not. And we never had it in for a land-banking British PLC.

Now… breathe: doesn’t that feel better?

Paying for a trolley?

Against this backdrop — admittedly with a frisson of excitement and willing to let bygones be bygones — my wife and I decided to cheat on Asda and Co-op by giving the town’s new Tesco a go.

Like number 36 buses, you wait for a supermarket in the north of town and then two arrive in quick succession. First Lidl. Now Tesco 2.

After a little moan about the double roundabout palaver (you know the one), we found the car park a notable improvement on the Waitrose omnishambles and the wild west of Asda, where the indignity of those first-floor car parks often makes you abandon the weekly shop entirely.

And then came the trolley debacle — and it had all started so well.

In a scene reminiscent of Michael Douglas in Falling Down, when he couldn’t get his breakfast muffin in McDonald’s, I felt the same disbelief upon discovering we needed to pay for a trolley. A pound. In Harrogate!

You’ve already — Mr Tesco — made a fool out of us for years. And then you closed the main road for too long, and now you topped it off with the pièce de résistance. A quid for a trolley. Read the room, Tesco. None of us have the time to hotfoot it across town to rummage down the back of an Everyman sofa.

I really should explain. I have a thing about paying for trolleys in Harrogate.

You see, I’m originally from Manchester (shh: our little secret), where the second most likely place to find a trolley was in a canal — until I moved here in 2007.

Back then, my wife and I were eager to leave our city centre lives behind and settle in North Yorkshire. Should we return to York, or try Harrogate?

One particular Saturday, after a day of house viewings in Harrogate, we popped into Waitrose before heading back over the Pennines. It may have been our first Waitrose experience.

To our astonishment, Waitrose didn’t demand a quid for the trolley. A sign from the Phil and Kirsty Location, Location, Location gods that Harrogate might be our sort of place. Deal nearly sealed.

Then came the clincher. Mid-shop, a polite older lady in Waitrose uniform appeared beside us.

“Excuse me,” she said. “The store will shortly be closing.”

“Oh, sorry,” I replied. “We didn’t hear the tannoy.”

She smiled. “In Waitrose, Harrogate, we don’t have a tannoy. We speak to each customer personally.”

And that was it. Decision made. Harrogate it was — where people didn’t nick trolleys and supermarkets didn’t use tannoys. We moved soon after, settling in Bilton. Best decision ever. 

Slick layout

Now back to Tesco 2 — the “concept” Tesco, whatever that means.

The store looks great — smart, light, wood-clad, though smaller than we expected.

Once inside, the store is slick and cleverly laid out. The fridges, part of Tesco’s new low-carbon approach, are dimly lit until you approach, then softly illuminate. Efficient, probably. Funky, too.

But it can be frustrating. Often you can’t quite see what’s inside until you’re practically in the fridge. The upside? You end up asking the lovely staff where things are so that it starts to feel like you’ve got your own personal shopper. And we like that. (Think: Everyman welcomer.)

Frankly, the whole experience felt as if we’d stumbled into a brand-new North Korean supermarket built solely for Kim Jong-il. A showroom, almost. We will be going back.

Will Tesco 2 change Harrogate? If it means fewer people from New Park or Bilton need to trek across town, it’s already a win. And as anyone who has had the misfortune of using the Skipton Road car park at 3pm will tell you, shorter cross-town journeys can only be a good thing for us all.

But know your market, Mr Tesco. We have been patient. Don’t treat us for fools. For one thing, there are no canals around these parts…

Nevertheless — trolley tax and all — welcome to Britain’s most welcoming place. Says who? So says Booking.com’s customers. And I couldn’t agree more.

That’s my Gray Matter.

Do you agree with Andrew's verdict on the new Tesco? Let us know in the comment section below.