Monopoly investigation could force Tesco to sell major store

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The Competition Commission is investigating after Tesco bought a Co-op shop half a mile from its Extra store in Slough - one of the largest.

It demolished the shop and promised to sell the site to a rival but in January it emerged that Tesco planned another store.

Yesterday, the Office of Fair Trading asked the Competition Commission to investigate after talks broke down. The inquiry is expected to end by October and it could force Tesco to sell the Extra store or share it with a rival.

Lucy Neville-Rolfe, Tesco executive director for corporate and legal affairs, said: "This is a perverse outcome of the competition rules. It will create further delay and uncertainty for shoppers in Slough.

"We have always intended to redevelop and sell the Co-op and that remains our intention. The suggestion that we could have to sell the Extra store is quite bizarre."

The OFT launched an inquiry in 2003, when Tesco bought the Co-op. Following the inquiry the company agreed to sell but only after it had used the site temporarily.

The news comes after Tesco suffered two setbacks in London. This month it was refused permission for a Tesco Express in Finchley.

A week earlier a planning inspector refused a store in Yiewsley, Middlesex.

œ Almost 60 per cent of shoppers want supermarkets formally regulated, says Retail Week magazine.