Crystal ball working well

Almost four years ago, I wrote of the Penny Black in Cheadle Hulme “in the next few years I can all too easily see it being put in the category of ‘return to sender’.” And so it has proved – after the New Year trading period it closed its doors for good and apparently is to be converted into a mini-ASDA.

For once my powers of prediction were spot-on. This was always a questionable venture – it seemed as though the Barracuda Group thought “OK, Cheadle Hulme has become a bit of a drinking circuit, so let’s open a crappy pub in a poor location and try to hoover up some of the bottom end of the trade.” And it was clearly a sign of desperation to rename it the “Sozzled Sausage”.