The 24-hour, seven-day explosion

"I don't approve of this urgency, this general speeding up. We race from one adrenaline fix to the next," says Wendy White, shopping centre manager for Templars Square in Cowley. "We've forgotten how to be still, be silent.

"There's a certain inevitability to all this. The more hours we work, the more necessary long trading hours are." She would rather see the whole cycle slow down, but realises that's unlikely. Marcus Lapthorne, the Oxford city centre manager, is delighted by the new energy: "It's excellent, a very good thing." He says Oxford led the way, pushing for a "24-hour city" back in 1996. Park-and-ride services and bus schedules were extended, and shops, supermarkets, museums, art galleries, clubs and restaurants were encouraged to open longer hours and on weekends.

All-night grocery shopping began in Oxfordshire in 1998, when the Tesco superstores at Cowley Retail Park and Marcham Road, Abingdon opened their doors to night-owls.

Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy says: "We are responding to the large-scale changes in British society. Tesco is meeting the new lifestyles of Britain's shoppers in the 21st century." The superstores themselves are controversial. Battles raged throughout the 70s and 80s as residents, small businesses and town councils tried to prevent 'the invasion'. They feared the doughnut effect, where out-of-town hypermarkets lure shoppers away from the city centre. Yet the superstores - with their acres of free parking - won in the end.

Ironically, they are now united against Wal-Mart, who took over Asda last five moths ago for £6.7billion. The world's biggest retailer plays in a whole different league - its stores are usually 200,000 sq ft - that's four times the size of a typical Tesco in Britain. While it was thought UK planning laws would block this sprawling American approach, the company is now negotiating out-of-town retail parks. "Wal-Mart is the biggest threat," Marcus says. "They underprice everyone else and hurt local companies."

Grocery prices are a bonfire that needs no more fuel. The Office of Fair Trading is already investigating the 'Big Four' supermarkets, accused of overcharging Britain's shoppers, who spend £87bn on food alone.

We've come a long way since 1961, when the first supermarket opened in Oxford. Interest in Merlin's was so high that doors often had to be closed to limit the crush inside. The Cowley store closed three years later, surrendering to "the little man". Store manager Brian Burtenshaw says: "I give other supermarkets three or four years before there are wholesale closures. People want a shop filled with a rich smell of roast coffee and hams, a smiling face, and the name of every customer on the tip of the shopkeeper's tongue." While his vision didn't exactly come true, a recent survey, carried out by Verdict Research, found that a quarter of Britain's 24 million shoppers dislike their visits to the supermarkets. Two million admitted they would prefer to shop elsewhere.

This week The Oxford Mail checks out the shopping revolution - from the 24-hour city to on-line ordering and the organic boom - and reports back from the aisles. *Why we all pay the price for the Sunday shop Newspapers branded it the "Sunday stampede" when companies began trading on the seventh day. Ten years ago this was illegal, but that didn't stop defiant chains such as Sainsbury's, Tesco, Habitat and BHS opening.

The "day of rest" was cast aside as the 24-hour city dawned. People wanted more.

"It's almost a normal trading day," explains Greg Dawson, press officer for Sainsbury's. "Sunday shopping is extremely popular."

Marcus Lapthorne, the Oxford city centre manager, believes Sunday shopping is a practical measure which fits in with social change at the end of the twentieth century. He says: "Church-going has declined significantly over the last 50 years. People have more disposable time on the weekends for shopping and leisure. Shops are trying to respond to customers."

Yet only 6.4 per cent of retail spending takes place on Sunday, compared with 20.7 per cent on Saturdays and 23.3 per cent on Fridays, according to a survey by the Keep Sunday Special campaign.

Richard Thomas, spokesman for the Diocese of Oxford, supports the appeal for a regular shared day off, as nine million men and women now spend part of Sunday working. "The big issue is the breakdown of families and relationships," he says. "Also we find in Oxford with the increased traffic and new restrictions, people can't park their cars to go to service. It's really annoyed church folk."

The problems have been growing over the last five years. Sunday shopping was legalised in 1994, though the hours were still limited. Traders were allowed to open from 10pm to 4pm.

A commission is now considering the expansion of Sunday trading - and more lenient planning permission for huge hypermarkets - in an effort to cut supermarket prices. Shopper Dan Taylor, 25, of Summertown, welcomes the increased Sunday trading hours. "I get Constant access to donuts!," he jokes.

Yet those convenient snacks may come at a price - single parents and small businesses are likely to suffer.

The survey shows that 34 per cent of lone parents work on Sundays, leaving an estimated half a million dependent children without their parent. It's not just shopworkers either. Transport and distribution employees, street cleaners and parking attendants also have to punch the clock.

Wendy White, shopping centre manager for Templars Square in Cowley, expects they will soon open seven days a week, though she disapproves of the idea. "There's a certain inevitability to Sunday trading. But you have to look at the whole pattern - people are working longer hours. Life is speeding up," she says.

"As a mother who frequently works 60-65 hours per week, I admit I sometimes shop for groceries on Sunday. You have to stock up the larder. I take the kids and try to make it an outing.

"It can be difficult for a working family to spend time together."

Spar has launched a Keep it Local campaign, fighting the break-up of communities caused by big business squashing family retailers. While 77 per cent of Oxfordshire people surveyed believed a local grocery or convenience store was vital, 84 per cent expected they would disappear in the near future. They have good reason to worry. Morton Middleditch, managing director of Spar UK, said: "It is alarming that current figures show 1,870 small retailers will have disappeared this year alone and this is predicted to continue at a rate of nearly eight per cent per year."

For a county so devoted to small shops, this could be a major setback. Oxfordshire residents cited a pub and church as important to a local community, but 74 per cent said a local grocery or convenience store was essential.

Yet these small shops are being forced to play hardball, to compete with the multinational supermarkets. Owner of Nine 2 Nine Groceries in Summertown, M. Arrub, said the stakes have increased drastically. He said: "I've only been on North Parade a couple of years and have been forced to stay open later," he explains.

"Many small grocers do not want to work all week, all these long hours, but they have to in order to survive. We have big commitments - mortgages, bills, children to look after.

"I do like being open on Sundays but there's nothing I can do."

To become involved in the Keep Sunday Special Campaign, please contact John Alexander on 01223 566319. *The muddle over what you're buying Buy British, says the slogan.

And as the French continue their ban on British beef while admitting they have fed their own livestock sewage and hormones, it seems that shoppers in Oxfordshire are keen to do just that.

Consumers see British food as safe, reputable and tasty - and they are eager to support farmers and suppliers. In fact, a recent National Farmers' Union survey showed 87 per cent of us associated British food with quality.

But it's often not as easy as it seems to buy British. The same survey also revealed that many people believe it is difficult to identify British food in shops. Four out of ten people do not think home-produced food is displayed prominently enough on the shelves. The labelling laws certainly don't help. When the label says 'Made in Britain', it doesn't mean all the ingredients are British. In the case of baked beans 'made in Britain', the beans themselves may come from another country.

And with readymade meals like chicken tikka masala, they can be labelled 'Made in Britain' because they are put together in this country, although the meat may come from France or even Thailand.

So how do you know whether the food you are buying has been grown, processed or just sold in Britain? It's not easy at all, says Dr David Walker, who has co-ordinated a report on buying British for the National Farmers' Union.

"Our report shows that British food has strong attributes. But it is not prominent that it is British. It is not clear that the food we are buying in the supermarkets is British."

And in today's rushed shopping culture, consumers don't have the time to check every label carefully.

"We need something that goes beyond labelling," he says. "You can't expect people to take the time to make sure they have bought British." One problem, of course, is deciding what is British food and what isn't. The report's organisers put farmers and consumer groups together in order to identify British food - but they soon became puzzled. For instance, is cheddar cheese necessarily British? Is blue cheese always French?

And when it comes to ready meals and processed foods, the information is even more unclear. "There were problems with the more processed produce - you just don't know where it's coming from. It goes beyond just sticking a Union Jack on it. It's creating a British food brand and building on its positive image," says Walker. The NFU last week launched its own Buy British campaign. Walker believes consumers should be asking supermarkets to make labelling clearer, particularly in the case of ready meals that could be sourced from many different countries.

"When you look at this research, you see British food is viewed by consumers in a different way to food from other countries. Given those findings, consumers need to be given a choice."

The Government has swung behind the Buy British campaign and Agriculture Minister Nick Brown has announced that labelling laws will be tightened to let the public identify foreign produce. But Prof Tim Lang, professor of Food Policy at Thames Valley University is scornful about the Government's stance and wonders about the legality of promoting British produce ahead of our European partners. "There's more than a smack of political posturing," he says.

"Nick Brown is in serious difficulties playing to a nationalist mentality at home while trying to say he is a good European."

Prof Lang is urging the Government to adopt a food policy that will take account of the next 10 to 20 years, not one that reacts to crisis after crisis.

Story date: Monday 08 November

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