The phrase, wrongly attributed to Napoleon, that Britain was ‘a nation of shopkeepers,' far from being perjorative was supposed to imply that the country was a nation of merchants, of trade. Brexit has made that phrase contemporary as the UK faces the prospect of losing the protection of the EU single market and making its own way in the big wide world.

This is clearly understood by the UK Government which for the first time this year hired its own pavilion at the international property investment and regeneration event, MIPIM, held last week in Cannes, France.