There's been a whole load of fuss concerning the plan to build a Tesco mini-market on the site of the old Arlington Garage, Unthank Road. Indeed, from the level of the campaign against the store plan, one might be forgiven for thinking something more sinister was being proposed; a halfway house for crackheads, maybe, or a rehearsal space for boy bands who come armed only with tight white vests, a copy of SingStars and a dream.

But no, a store, plus limited accomodation above the store, is all that's planned. On this point, I can see some sense in the protests. Who'd want to live above Tesco Metro? Okay, so when you run out of life's essentials - milk, tea bags and a box of Sweetex - you could nip downstairs in your dressing gown and slippers - but surely this is offset by the fact that you will, to all your friends, be forever known as "the bloke who bought a flat above Tesco's." Face it - it just sounds a bit pikey.

But is that enough reason to not build the store? Far from it. The more I've looked into it, the more I suspect a Tesco store on Unthank Road would be a positive move. The population around the Unthank Road area contains large bnumbers of old age pensioners and students, two groups who are not blessed with vast quantities of income with which to buy the weekly necessities and who do not have as much access to transport as they might reasonably wish. Opening a Tesco store would give them access to reasonable quality products at prices significantly cheaper than the bewilderingly expensive Budgens Local stores exerting a dual stranglehold on the street's catchment area.

Having been a resident of the Unthank Road area for twenty years, I can safely say that shopping in these stores does nothing so much as conjure up an image of what it must have been like to live under communism. Queueing behind old women in headscarves in these cramped, striplit shops to buy our goods at inflated prices. Of course, the argument for the added expense is always "you pay for convenience." Well, you'd pay a damn sight less at Tescos, I'm sure of it.

There is an organisation pushing this anti-supermarket stance: Residents Against Unthank Tescos. (Don't get me wrong, by the way - I'd form a Residents For Unthank Tesco, only I can't find a snappy acronym. Unthank Tesco Encourages Residents Under Spending is the best I can do, and as you can see, it's gramatically off.)

Anyhow; among the list of reasons quoted by RAUT for resisting the Tesco development are traffic congestion, forgetting that the site was formerly the Arlington Garage, open 24 hours, and the street was - as I recall - no more significantly busy. Besides, with Sainsbury’s on Queen’s Road and Somerfields on Earlham Road, only a muppet would drive to a smaller, more expensive mini-supermarket.

RAUT claim lorries servicing a new Tesco store would cause congestion and "other problems" (unspecified) at delivery times. Again, this is true - but compare this to running the gauntlet of death that is crossing Onley Street and/or Unthank Road while Budgens Local are taking in deliveries. At least the Tesco lorries would be off the main streets.

Their other complaints (vehicle boots being slammed shut, an increase in litter by people who don’t use bins) can surely be filed under the category of "Not Tesco’s Fault".

As for "the unique character of the area," there are many words to describe the existing 1950’s flats on Trinity Street. "Unique" is certainly one of them, as is "eyesore".

I understand the concerns about butchers and greengrocers, but I would point to Grove Road, where a Tesco Metro has been operating without apaprent impact on the other stores in the local parade; a butcher or fishmonger amongst them.

Basically, I don’t think that the Tesco supermarket would make any of these situations worse and even if there is a slight impact upon the local environment, this is worth paying if it enables the people of the area to have access to groceries at reasonable prices.

Here’s my vision of what the future would bring: the butcher and the baker would stay open (disappointingly, there are no candlestick makers any more, and that isn’t Tesco’s fault either), the organic greengrocer on Cambridge Street would still be there, as would the take away stores and the subways, the clothing shops and newsagents. The two Budgens Local stores would close down, meaning no more queueing in dreary, strip-lit shops to pay eighty pence for a lemon or sixty pence for a pint of milk, because people would realise they can get their goods more cheaply at Tesco. Meanwhile, the Trinity Street flats will still look ugly, the Unthank Road pavements will still be too narrow, and after a while everyone will wonder what the bloody hell all the fuss was about.

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Simon Payton has lived on Unthank Road for longer than he cares to admit.