Tesco’s retail operations, meanwhile, generate plenty of cash, allowing it to invest in grabbing further share. Share buybacks have also kept investors happy. There should be about £1b of those this year.

But Tesco’s recent success is also partly due to self-help. Since the turn of the decade, it has been slowly but surely fighting back against the assault of the German discounters, Aldi and Lidl. Its “Aldi price match” scheme has altered the perception in shoppers’ minds that the discounters were where they had to go to get basics at a good price, says PwC’s senior retail adviser Kien Tan.

Back in the 1990s, one of Tesco’s smartest moves was the introduction of the Tesco Clubcard loyalty scheme. Today, it has more than 23 million UK households signed up. But despite the programme being 30 years old, chief executive Ken Murphy has hinted Tesco is still only at the foothills of using its valuable data, plus artificial intelligence, to tailor offers to customers.

Britain’s grocery sector remains a highly competitive, low-margin business with little room for error. Tesco can still receive drubbings on social media for the state of its stores and offers. While the 1990s saw Tesco in the ascendancy, the 2000s brought a backlash on everything from its urban planning impact to supplier relations. A moment of nostalgia is no reason for Murphy to stop looking ahead.

Lex is the flagship investment column of the Financial Times.

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