Hundreds of Asda and Tesco stores 'look the same' due to one UK town

A vast number of UK supermarkets built during the Eighties and Nineties share a signature style, marked by a barn-style shape topped with an ornamental clock tower. Filmmaker Chris Spargo traces this trend back to a specific Asda store in an Essex new town, pinpointing the origin of a design that swept the nation.

The concept of supermarkets, borrowed from the US in the years following WWII, initially introduced the UK to rather austere, soulless buildings; some so bleak that architecture critic Lance Wright likened a few to "concentration camps."

However, mid-1970s developmental plans for South Woodham Ferrers in Essex demanded architectural harmony, leading to stringent guidelines for any new construction, Chris describes: "The council wanted to put a supermarket right next to the town square. But they had a very strict design guide, which required all buildings to have specific Essex characteristics.

Asda's innovative response seemingly took cues from two local heritage sites just 15 miles away in Coggeshall—a 14th-century barn and a Victorian clock tower. Although Chris acknowledges the lack of concrete evidence linking these historic structures to Asda's design epiphany, the outcome—an Asda that appears as if it were the offspring of said barn and clock tower—can scarcely be denied.

What began as a unique architectural solution tailored for one town inadvertently set the mould for numerous similar supermarket designs nationwide, Chris notes, highlighting an accidental phenomenon in British commercial architecture, reports the Mirror.

"The original reason for the clock tower was forgotten and the design became known as the Essex Barn style," Chris explains. However, these days the rustic charm of the Essex barn style has waned, as new supermarkets opt for mammoth glass-and-steel constructions that boast a more futuristic look and come with a lower price tag.

"More recent supermarkets occasionally have clock towers," he notes, though they're more a nostalgic nod than a necessity in today's digital age, where pocketed smartphones tell us the time.

But it seems Asda's influential one-off design has quietly stamped itself across the nation, inadvertently setting a trend to last through the decades.

The online community has been abuzz with revelations after watching the video, sharing collective surprise in the YouTube comment section upon learning why their local superstores share such a striking resemblance. One user quipped: "Peak Britain, a design that is everywhere and nobody knew why but just kept doing it, and a piece to camera in prime British weather. Love it."

Another wrote: "This is something I've simultaneously noticed everywhere and yet never noticed, the perfect topic for a short and interesting video like this. I always wondered why that was so thank you."