Emma Thompson: Stop Tesco setting up shop in 'villagey' Belsize

Actress said 'meanly paid' staff would harm community spirit

The actress claims Belsize Park’s community spirit would be ‘destroyed’ by Tesco (Getty Images)

Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson has called for Tesco to be stopped from opening a new store in her part of north London because the “meanly paid” staff would harm the local community spirit.

Thompson said in an email to the supermarket chain that “Belsize is a villagey area” and that there was “no need of a Tesco”, according to the Camden New Journal.

The resident of nearby West Hampstead said: “Wherever Tesco’s goes, the local feeling is destroyed by staff who neither know or care to know the inhabitants.”

A spokesperson for Tesco said it plans to consult the local community over the store.