The last of England

Martin Vander Weyer’s column in the latest issue of the magazine is essential reading. It features five current stories from the business world. The Vickers report, Martin says, will merely offer the same poor service for consumers at a greater cost. Martin also notes, as he did two weeks ago, that American banks are winding down their lending to European counterparts in anticipation of a crash, and adds that American politicians are keen to paint Europe as the bogeyman for their financial ills, conveniently ignoring the failure of Obama’s hugely expensive stimulus. Martin also touches on unemployment and the Eurozone crisis. His final vignette is a parable for our troubled times and I reproduce it below: 

The last of England

My pub of the week. En route to a wedding in the Savernake Forest I took lunch at the Three Tuns in Great Bedwyn, the perfect pit-stop after a long drive and with a long afternoon ahead: relaxed atmosphere, smiling staff, good food and drink swiftly served. But a note on the table says it will close at the end of the year. I ask the landlady, Jan Carr, what went wrong. The answer is that trade is down 30 per cent from its peak, battered by beer duties at £1 a pint, VAT at 20 per cent, sky-high fuel prices and competition from cheap supermarket booze. Winning accolades and working 70 hours a week isn’t enough to keep Jan and her chef husband, Alan, in business. An inn since 1756, the Three Tuns will be one of about 1,350 British pubs to close this year — the reality behind the ‘service-sector slowdown’ I referred to last week, and a growing hole in the social fabric. All I can suggest is that you divert off the A4 west of Hungerford for a fine lunch while you can, and remember Hilaire Belloc’s words, chalked on the Three Tuns menu board: ‘When you have lost your inns drown your empty selves, for you will have lost the last of England.’