Rollbacks, bargain clothes and a cheeky pocket tap: The changing face of Asda as it celebrates its 60th birthday

Instantly recognisable by its trademark green branding, bargain prices and famous ‘pocket tap’, Asda has become a household name in the UK during its 60 years of trading. 

Over the last six decades, the Yorkshire-born supermarket has deservedly earned itself a spot among Britain’s most popular supermarkets.

As well as being one of the most popular supermarkets in the country, Asda has branched out into various other retail ventures, including its homeware Living range and George clothing collection.

The retailer now operates over 1,200 stores across the country including superstores and convenience outlets. 

Asda is the UK’s third-largest food retailer in the country and employs a whopping 145,000 nationwide.

Although it has been trading as Asda for 60 years, the supermarket’s origins date back to the 1920s, when local butcher W.R. Asquith, from Knottingly, West Yorkshire, first made the decision to expand his family business across the north of England.

Asquith went on to build a further six shops over the course of the next few years before handing the reins to his sons, Peter and Fred, who had their sights set on an even bolder expansion of the business.

It was after a trip to the US in 1958 that the two stumbled upon a megastore supermarket, Piggly Wiggly, and became inspired.

The brothers rushed back to the UK where they bought and converted an old cinema, the Queens in Castleford, into a self-service supermarket under the same model of megastore they had seen in America.

Shortly after initial success in Castleford, the brothers went on to open a second store in Edlington – both shops trading under the name ‘Queens’. 

With innovative trading methods, such as offering coupon discounting and their pioneering of late night shopping, the brothers began to earn customers’ trust – developing a loyal relationship that would go on to span generations.

In 1965, Peter Asquith built his first supermarket from scratch, tactically situating the new megastore next to a car park to draw in customers.

Meanwhile, as the Asquith brothers had been growing their brand, a group of dairy farmers from West Riding had simultaneously been forging partnerships in a bid to expand their ventures in food retail.

Banding under the name Hindell’s Dairy Farmers Ltd. in 1949, the group was fronted by Noel Stockdale.

By 1965, when the Asquith brothers were looking for a company to take over their in-store butchery operation, the Dairy farmers reached out to Stockdale and proposed they merge their businesses.     

When Stockdale agreed to the partnership, the newly joined forces came to be known as Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Ltd, an alliance that would be on to become the beginnings of one of the world’s most successful supermarket giants.

Using Asquith and Dairy, the two became Asda. 

Over the next six decades, the franchise would continue to grow into a multinational supermarket giant, opening stores in the US under the alternative name, Walmart. 

Shortly after the merge, the company acquired Government Exchange Mart (GEM), a major US discount retailer, where they went on to achieve great retail success, including in opening the first food store to also sell general merchandise.

As part of their revamping GEM stores, Asda also introduced the very first discounted petrol filling station, which would become an integral part of their company.

Then in 1968, Associated Dairies bought out the Asquith brothers share of the company – though Peter remained a consequential force in the business.

By the 1970s, Asda boasted 30 stores across the country and were in the midst of developing plans to expand to the south of the UK, by which point they appointed Peter Firmston-Williams to support the expansion.

Peter oversaw Asda’s expansion into the south, with stores opening in Newport, Plymouth and Gosport.

In 1977, one landmark moment in the supermarkets advertising history would go on to become an essential part of the brand’s identity. It was during this year that the supermarket released its first ever TV ads with the famous ‘pocket tap’.

So famous was the pocket tap that it was added sign-language dictionary to refer to the supermarket. 

As the business continued to expand, so did its acquisition of other companies, with Asda taking Allied Carpets and Wade’s furniture under its wing, as well as introducing Asda Property and Asda Drive.

In 1981, the supermarket giant saw the opening of its 100th store, and it was at this point that John Fletcher took over as managing director.

The company continued to broaden their roots throughout the country, building its flagship store in Watford and then opening its headquarters in Leeds, with the Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, there to cut the ribbon.

Towards the end of the 1980s, the supermarket launched their first clothing range, Asda George, with the help of the British designer, George Davies.

Shortly after in 1991, Archie Norman joined the brand and became became the youngest ever CEO of a FTSE 100 company.

Asda continued broadening their horizons, adding pharmacies, charity partnerships and more to their ever growing repertoire of ventures.

It introduced its famous ‘Rollback’ pricing strategy in the late 1990s to advertise lower priced items in store, a technique the retailer later ended up re-introducing in 2025. 

Then in 1999, Asda made moves overseas, joining forces with Walmart to become part of the world’s biggest retailers. 

The union proved pivotal to Asda’s growth and the supermarket raced into the millennium – opening new stores across the country, adding more brands to its name and launching its grocery home shopping business, later to be followed by the launch of the non-food online business.

In 2002, Asda was even named the top company to work for by The Sunday Times.

By 2004, it earned its seventh win as ‘best value retailer’ by The Grocer and was also named the country’s biggest clothing retailer.

A year later, the supermarket was appointed with a new CEO and president, Andy Bond, and also extended its reach by building stores in Northern Ireland. 

By the end of the decade, the supermarket giant had opened its first Eco Store in Bootle, and was continuing to expand its clothing brand, even launching a 100-day satisfaction guarantee.

Grocery and Collect was launched in 2011 and has grown to more than 15 million orders a year.

In 2015, Asda celebrated its 50th birthday, simultaneously marking a milestone year of achievements, having opened its 600th store and surpassing the £1bn mark.

In 2019, rival supermarket Sainsbury’s proposed a merger between the two chains – though it was blocked by the UK’s competition watchdog over fears it would raise prices for consumers.

In October 2020, Asda was purchased by the Issa brothers, Zubar and Mohsin, who bought the supermarket chain for £6.8 billion. 

The pair created their empire after buying a petrol station in Manchester in 2001. A quarter of a century later and the pair have rapidly expanded to own more than 5,200 stations across the country.

With their investment, Asda once again became UK owned, marking the first time in 21-years that the chain has been headed by Brits.

In 2022, Asda was crowned the UK’s lowest-priced major supermarket for the 25th consecutive year by The Grocer in its annual ‘Grocer Gold’ industry awards. 

The supermarket is now one of the nation’s biggest employers, with 145,000 people working for the company, including in its George clothing department.

Asda has 1,200 stores across the country of various formats. 

Celebrating its 60th birthday, the supermarket’s clothing brand has launched a new summer collection modelled by one of the country’s original supermodels, Yasmin Le Bon.