Tesco review

Tesco is not only the UK's biggest retailer, but also one of the largest in the world. There are currently more than 2,700 Tesco branches in the UK, but are they any good?

In the annual Which? supermarkets survey, more than 700 Tesco customers rated the retailer on everything from queuing time to food quality and value for money. 

This enabled us to work out star ratings for different factors as well as an overall customer score.

Are Tesco supermarkets any good?

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Is Tesco's online delivery service any good?

This is member-only content.

• Join Which? now for instant access to the results plus all of our online reviews.
• Which? members can log in to unlock the table below and reveal the ratings. 

How fresh is the food in Tesco deliveries?

We went undercover to find out how the different supermarkets compare for freshness, using a team of mystery shoppers to order more than 1,000 groceries in the first – and biggest – comparison of its kind in August 2021.

During the course of the investigation, our mystery shoppers took delivery of items that were already out of date by the time they were delivered, groceries that were within their use-by date but looked too manky to eat, and one item with a completely illegible use-by date.

Log in or join Which? to discover which supermarkets will deliver the freshest produce - and which ones could leave you with past-it produce that's dangerous to eat. 

How safe are Tesco stores in the pandemic?

When we surveyed Tesco shoppers in October 2020, 74% rated its in-store Covid-19 measures as good or excellent. Find out how this compares to the other supermarkets in our survey by visiting our guide to the UK's best and worst supermarkets.

At the time of publishing this page (Feb 2022), Tesco was using a traffic light system at many stores that lets you know if you can enter to prevent overcrowding. 

There were hand sanitisers and wipes to clean baskets and trolleys at store entrances, and screens at checkouts. Stores were also setting aside quieter hours for shoppers who want a less crowded experience.

Tesco in the news

In January 2022, Tesco said it would expand its rapid grocery delivery service Whoosh, which promises delivery within one hour, to at least 600 stores by the end of 2023. It's currently available in around 200 stores.

Also in January 2022, Tesco launched its Clubcard Pay+ payment and savings account for its 20 million Clubcard holders. It comes with a debit card and lets you build up savings by rounding up what you spend to the nearest £1.

In October 2021, Tesco followed Amazon Fresh in launching its first checkout-free store in central London. The GetGo store uses technology to track the products you pick up and automatically charges you for what you buy through an app when you leave. You can see our video review of Tesco's checkout-free store here.

Former Tesco boss Dave Lewis received a knighthood in the 2021 New Year's Honours list for turning around Tesco's fortunes and making it profitable, as well as for his efforts in helping to keep the nation fed through the pandemic.

• Find out more: is Tesco Clubcard Pay+ any good?

Which? research on Tesco's plastic packaging

In April 2019, we investigated how much supermarket plastic packaging is recyclable. We ordered 46 of the most popular own-brand items from 11 major UK supermarket chains. 

We found that 60% of Tesco's packaging, by item, was widely recyclable at the kerbside - the joint-highest proportion of all the supermarkets.

We also looked at how accurately the packaging was labelled for recycling information. We found 57% of Tesco's packaging was correctly labelled. See how Tesco compares with other supermarkets and find out more about supermarket plastic packaging.

Find out more

• Best and worst supermarkets: see how the big players compare
• Supermarket price comparison: which is the UK's cheapest grocer?
• Best Buy food and drink: from prosecco to burgers, what impressed our experts?