How George Cadbury Helped A Village (from the grave!)

Now here’s a story to make you smile, even if eventually, Tesco did kind of win (as they unfortunately always tend to, same thing happened in Sheringham, Norfolk):

Bournville is a small village just outside Birmingham, built by George Cadbury, a devout Quaker, who invented drinking chocolate, to dissuade his workers from drinking gin (he was a strict teetotaller!)

He looked after his staff well, and built this village with nice houses and pretty green spaces, to give a good quality of life, amid the city slums of yesteryear.

Cut to a few years ago, and Tesco Express opened a store nearby, and applied for an alcohol license. It was refused, because local people (concerned more about glass litter and hooliganism than George’s religious beliefs) opposed it.

So Tesco Head Office went into action, and launched a legal challenge. And guess what? Clever Mr Cadbury had wrapped the deeds up so well, that it became the first store where it lost, and Tesco had to open this branch, with no alcohol. A triumph of the little man winning!

Alas, Tesco got around it by selling alcohol at a nearby petrol station.