Back behind the counter!

The grocer's daughter returned to her roots on Monday when she toured North Finchley's biggest and newest supermarket.

Mrs Thatcher, who grew up above her father's general store in Grantham, wasn't slow to draw the parallels. “Unfortunately my great grandfather wasn't in business, otherwise we might be rivals,” she told store chairman Sir John Sainsbury.

Praising the new 25,000 sq ft store, Mrs. Thatcher seized on Sainsbury's and their outlets as ideal examples of her own philosophy.

“One-third of the shareholders in Sainsbury's are staff, so they are all indulging in popular capitalism as well as providing what we call the market economy,” she told an audience of staff and local dignitaries on Monday.

“The market economy isn't some theory—it is, in fact, men and women being able to spend their own earnings in the place of their choice … in shops like these.”

The transfer to North Finchley has created 222 new jobs in the store, which is three times the size of its Ballards Lane predecessor.

The balance of the staff have transferred from other stores, bringing the total staff to 282. Parking has been provided for 180 cars.