Deprivation and access to discount food supermarkets in England: A cross-sectional analysis

Food supermarkets play an important role in improving food availability and accessibility. The recent growth in the market share of discount food supermarkets in England raises new questions about their impact on food access, especially in deprived communities. Focusing on physical access, this study examines spatial inequalities in access by exploring the relationship between physical access to discount food supermarkets and socioeconomic conditions. Our analysis controls for population, conventional food supermarkets, urbanisation, regional (north–south) effects, and the availability of public transport. We use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and quantile regression techniques. Our results suggest that more deprived areas have higher accessibility to discount food supermarkets. We also find that the relationship between access to discount food supermarkets, deprivation and control variables systematically differed in the north and south, and between urban and rural areas. Overall, the results suggest that efforts aimed at reducing food insecurity in England should integrate equity-oriented considerations into supermarket provision strategies.