‘I expect you’re getting free food these days after the big plug you gave them.” The speaker was John Power, the one-time Mr Big of West Oxford politics, addressing me as I pedalled away, bike basket loaded to the brim, after another successful shopping trip to Aldi, off the Botley Road.

He was joking, of course. My kind words about this supermarket — and there are a few more coming up — are supplied with no mercenary motive. It is simply that having discovered a good thing, I am anxious that others should have a share in it.

To read some of the national newspapers, you would think that this enterprising company did not exist. The ones I take were full at the weekend with lots of PR-supplied guff about Tesco bidding to become the nation’s cheapest supermarket chain. Only the Daily Mail tells it like it is. The online edition reported: “A snapshot survey of 11 food items bought by millions of families found that Tesco was at least £3 cheaper than the likes of Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s. However, the same survey revealed that Tesco remains significantly more expensive than the booming budget chains Lidl and Aldi.”

‘Significantly’ is the word to note here, for everything I buy at Aldi (I haven’t been to Lidl) is much cheaper than at other supermarkets. A large carton of low-fat yoghurt, for instance, costs just 55p. How much do you pay?

Their stuff is good, too. Oliver Cromwell 1599 gin is a real favourite with me (comparable with much more expensive Sipsmith). The freshly squeezed orange juice is the best I have tasted. Their new Greek extra virgin olive oil is another winner.

My support for Aldi, I have to admit, is in part explained by an active dislike of Tesco which, with Sainsbury’s, is now significantly over-represented in this area. The thing that really sticks in my craw is that having seen off local traders with their out-of-town stores, they are now greedily occupying the urban centres they worked to denude.