"Britain's oldest family business opened when Henry VIII ruled"

RJ Balson and Sons, a butchers based in Bridport, Dorset, boasts an astonishing history that is almost 500 years old.

Experts have traced the businesses roots back through 25 generations to when founder John Balson opened a stall in the town's market on South Street in 1535.

Since then dozens of family members have worked as butchers in the market town, passing their skills down the generations.

This is the England I love. Not the out of town shopping centres and fitness centres and DIY centres and motorways and flyovers and and and..

I suppose Lord Mandelson would decry the fact that generations of butchers were not given the opportunity to be High Court judges or investment bankers.