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Did I hear the words "poor" and "plumber" in the same sentence...  

Very odd, unless there's negotiations going on in the background for redevelopment by say Tescos, or change of use, eg turn it into a car park

But dunno why still advertise it unless it's on hold while negotiations continue?

Checked, and can safely say no £50 notes in my wallet

I was reading about the battle of the drugs corporations, US owned Pfizer wants to take over UK owned AstraZeneca. The sums involved read like telephone numbers and it will be the largest paid for a UK business if it goes through.

But thinking about it, and after a rush of patriotic nostalgia, how much major British owned business is left? A quick Google search threw up some recent and high profile sales:

• Rolls-Royce (cars) bought by Volkswagen Group for £430m in 1998
• Asda bought by American owned Wal-Mart for £6.7bn in 1999
• Powergen bought by Germany's E.on for £9.6bn in 2002
• O2 bought by Spain's Telefonica for £18bn in 2005
• BAA bought by Spain's Ferrovial for £10.3bn in 2006
• Alliance Boots bought by US investment firm KKR for £11.1bn in 2007
• Scottish & Newcastle (Newcastle Brown Ale) bought by Dutch owned Heineken and Denmark’s Carlsberg for £7.8bn in 2008
• Jaguar Landrover sold by Ford to Indian Car maker Tata
• Cadbury bought by US-based Kraft for £11.5bn in 2010 for £1.15bn in 2008
• Camelot (National Lottery) bought by a Canadian pension fund for £400m in 2010
• Raleigh (chopper and grifter ) bought by a Dutch firm Accell for £62m in 2012
• Weetabix bought by Chinese Bright Food Company for £1.2bn in 2012
• Branston Pickle bought by Japanese Mizkan Vinegar firm for £92.5m in 2012
• Sarsons Vinegar & Haywoods Pickled Onions bought by Mizkan for £41m in 2012

There's a few surprising ones like Camelot, and sad ones like Landrover.

But removing National pride, is foreign ownership a bad thing after all? Jaguar Landrover has gone from strength to strength with Tata after years of UK and Foreign mismanagement, takeovers, breakups, mergers, under-investment. Most of the vehicles are made here, the supply chain and technical skills are here, so are they British?

But you get the feeling that this sell off can't last forever and are enough new British big businesses growing in size to fill the void and balance the scales. Why is our business ripe for plucking and why aren't we out there buying Frances or Germany's utility companies or buying up American corporations? 

Or are we destined to be a nation of shop keepers and historical nostalgia...

Great feedback Pete, and welcome aboard 

credit unknown.

Sorry, couldn't resist that as a headline, but the famous Gherkin has been put into receivership as the office towers owners have hit financial problems leaving the tower to default on debts.

There's a variety of news agencies carrying the story, but my favourite headline has to be the Guardian:

"Gherkin's salad days over amid financial pickle for London tower" - Guardian

I am baffled how such an iconic building in the heart of London can't make money? You'd think office space would be at a premium for these slick city based agencies and corporations, and it's all about image for a lot of big firms.

A familiar brand name on the High Street, but for how much longer?

The beeb has reported they are to close 109 shops as a result of Government increases on duty for fixed odds betting machines, and a poor first quarter. 

Not being a gambler myself (other than business ) I can't see the fascination, but the market must be massive judging by the sheer volume of gambling websites and money spent on TV marketing.

Maybe the old bookie model will simply move online?

I thought DSR did, but as HMRC advised me to remove it, I have  Would be an interesting scenario if I got penalised in the future for not showing it!

I think there is a variety of fledgling digital rules and policies, (cookie policy springs to mind) which are all unenforceable, and in some cases like this, can actually be harmful or detrimental to your business.

I guess government (or EU) legislation and the digital world will always be out of synch with each other due to the speed and flux of the digital economy.

I can't say I agree with point 3! 

I think this has to be one of those never ending conversations, and bearing in mind this thread is 4 years old, with the amount of churn and changes in recent years, you can probably take most of it with a pinch of salt

But welcome aboard, why not do an intro and tell us about yourself (in a non self promotion kind of way)