Waitrose is posting strong growth this year. Have you noticed trade getting busier? Oh yes, definitely. We have got strong year-on-year growth here. And there is a lot of redevelopment going on in Westonsuper- Mare. We are benefiting from that as well. 

Why do you think there is such a good level of growth on a national level? We are benefiting from our Essentials range. It is doing a very good job for us as customers are no longer automatically perceiving us as too expensive. At the other end of the scale, we have our Duchy partnership, so we are appealing to both ends of the market. The Delia and Heston campaign is bringing in trade too. We do recipes every week. 

Our shopper noticed prominent advertising of Waitrose’s brand price matching with Tesco. Has it been particularly effective? Yes, definitely. Our level of promoting that is the same as at any other Waitrose branch, but in this local area it is absolutely key to our success. We have an Asda right next door and a Tesco less than a mile away. I was speaking to a customer the other week who was in the branch to see if she could get her basket of shopping for the same price as at Tesco. She was told the other day by a friend that we were price matching with Tesco and had come to give it a go. She was getting on really well and she said what she had found so far was going at the same price. 

What is selling well in store at the moment? Food to go is selling really well. It’s all kept at the front of the branch: salads, cakes, sandwiches, drinks and so on. Sales are up about 60% year-on-year. We are also championing British food, which is doing well. Waitrose has a target that by 2013 we will have a larger range of British food than any other supermarket. 

How has trading been with the recent rush of bank holidays? Has it thrown up any challenges? It is interesting to manage in terms of thinking about the shorter trading days and staff availability. But no other major considerations arise really, and this upcoming one should be good. The Royal Wedding weekend was amazing. 

Kate Middleton went shopping in a Waitrose not a million miles away. How would you react if she came into your store? Oh, it would be fantastic if she came in here! It felt really busy in the branch just after the pictures were in the paper, and I said to some of my colleagues “Do you think this is the Kate Middleton effect?” 

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