With its shelves emptying and its billionaire owners in retreat, the struggling retailer has had to call in its veteran chair as chief executive

An empty chiller cabinet, shelves stripped bare of Ready Brek and a disaster in the yorkshire pudding freezer, where a packet has exploded: all is not well at the Pudsey branch of Asda.

The UK’s third-biggest grocery chain is in a tailspin, losing market share to its rivals at a rapid rate. Last week, the crisis prompted Stuart Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer and Topshop, to step up from chair of the supermarket to take charge of day-to-day running, after co-owner Mohsin Issa retreated from executive duties.