He met Hadleigh Town councillors to study proposals for the supermarket which Tesco hopes to build on the former Brett Works site, close to the River Brett, before he was taken on a tour of the area.

Carol Bailey, town clerk, said it was an exciting day at a critical time in the planning process.

She said: "I wrote to Griff over two years ago when he was recording his Restoration TV series. I thought it would be good to have someone of his calibre and clout talking about the issue of what impact a Tesco supermarket would have on the town."

After two years Mrs Bailey assumed she would not hear anything until an email arrived last month from Mr Rhys Jones while he was in Hong Kong.

"He was very apologetic and said a fire had destroyed lots of his records, but he had just found my letter and would be in touch. Then he called on Tuesday and said he would be with us on Wednesday morning," she added.

Mr Rhys Jones spent two hours in the Guildhall and inspecting the proposed site.

He said Hadleigh needed to be protected from supermarkets building in environmentally delicate areas and agreed with the town council that the Brett works site was not suitable.

Writing in a national newspaper at the weekend, Mr Rhys Jones, who lives in Holbrook, Suffolk, called on people to form local pockets of resistance to protect town centre environments.

Mrs Bailey said: "With Tesco expected to release its latest proposals by the end of the summer, this is a critical time to get someone like Griff on board.

"He was very supportive and passionate about the issue."