Liverpool’s largest private employer has stayed open as an essential retailer during the pandemic and launched a £30m fund to support all self-isolating staff. Brothers Tom and Joe Morris, 66 and 61, have grown the business from a single store in 1976; comedian Ken Dodd was one of their early customers. Home Bargains is now a discount empire, its 500 shops from the Highlands of Scotland to Cornwall selling branded goods at low prices. It intends to expand to 1,000 outlets as it moves into former Woolworths and Toys ‘R’ Us locations.