Local shops are cheaper than Tesco's convenience stores, campaigners have claimed.

Residents campaigning against the opening of a Tesco Express store in Mill Road, Cambridge, carried out a basket comparison test on 21 grocery items at five grocery stores on the same road and a Tesco Express store 1.5 miles away.

The average Mill Road basket, at £29.91, was £3.79 cheaper than Tesco's basket, which was cheaper on two items, a 500g pack of fusilli pasta and a box of Cadbury's Fingers.

Savings by shopping at the Mill Road stores included 41p on a pack of four Velvet toilet rolls, 29p on a whole chicken and 23p on a kilogram of onions.

"We carried out this survey because one of the arguments advanced in favour of Tesco is that it is cheaper, and we wanted to see if that was true," said Sonia Cooter, co-ordinator for the No Mill Road Tesco Campaign.

"Local residents love this part of Cambridge and want to preserve its unique character. Frankly, Tesco is anathema to everything we value in Mill Road. There is no doubt that in taking on the might of Tesco we are the underdogs, but underdogs sometimes win."

A spokesman for Tesco said: "The survey from Cambridge contains data we believe to be incorrect and ambiguous. There is total transparency in our pricing and we offer our customers consistent good value in their shopping.

"The Grocer's own Top Up shop pricing survey on 6 October showed Tesco Express shops are the best value in convenience shopping."

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