Tesco in Marlborough has introduced a Quiet Hour’ every Wednesday from 2-3pm. Nicola Barker, a customer who finds noise physically painful, protested and Matt Jones, the branch manager, listened to her protests and decided to act. ‘We wanted to help our customers and make shopping easier for them,’ he said. Not only piped music but tannoy announcements and bright lights are muted during this weekly hour of peace. Since introducing the Quiet Hour, staff in Marlborough have noticed ‘many more customers benefitting from the less intense experience.’ There is as yet no plan by Tesco to expand Quiet Hours nationally, however. There should be so we need to keep writing to Tesco’s CEO Dave Lewis dave.lewis@uk.tesco.com

Meanwhile the Co-op has been running similar  ‘autism awareness hours’ at some of their branches across the country and will be ‘running more going forward.’ Email Steve Murrells the CEO to encourage him with these awareness hours at steve.murrells@co-operative.coop