Why Gail’s triumphs

The bakery chain Gail’s, which opened its first branch in Hampstead less than 20 years ago, is reportedly touted for sale by Goldman Sachs with a half billion pound price tag. There are 152 outlets in the UK, all of them in relatively prosperous areas, and it has ambitious plans for expansion. But Gail’s is described as ‘divisive’; its popularity with ‘well-off, middle-class customers in the London suburbs’ being its chief offence against the Zeitgeist. 

Here is one of those stories that gets what you might call sociological cut-through. For years, the Telegraphnews pages have treated the John Lewis Christmas advert and the Marks & Spencer share price not as business stories but as matters of vital national importance, and so it is with Gail’s.