BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[AndyRM]

I nearly bought in to the Equity for Punks thing and I'm glad I didn't. You're on a hiding to nothing in the beverage world really.

 

[First Aspect]

The owners really do seem like gits.
They sell “equity punk shares” to fans, but these now have almost no value, as there are preferential shares owned by big private equity funds. Which will gazump the small share holders. Some people have lost over £10k.
So much for their image of being against the big brewers. Just a bunk of wannabe hipsters in wolf’s clothing.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/16/brewdog-sale-equity-punk-investors-steaming

Private equity taking the cream off the top. Who would have thought it?

 

[PurplePenguin]

Actually, I think the reasons would be hard to pin down, and there are a lot of factors: local shops & services closing over an extended period, increasing use of private cars & Beeching as a result, etc. etc. I think ironically as localism and public transport has withered, so there's more total transportation required to get to work, shops, doctors etc., but only one practical way to do it in may instances - the private car.

A case study would be the old Teign Valley line that went out to Dunsford from Exeter, then headed south along the Teign Valley to Chudleigh etc. If you live in any of the villages along the line, life would be next to impossible without a car, despite none of them being more than about 10 miles from Exeter. If you've ever ridden the hills around there, you'd know why. And yet there's a fairly sizeable population (in Devonian terms) along the length of the line, if you add them all up. I'd guess that there might be two buses a day if you're lucky, and there's also an R in the month, and if the driver isn't busy lambing.

The problem for me is less about public transport, but how the sheer number of cars makes other forms of transport (e.g. walking and biking) unpleasant. Some very rural places are less affected, but much of the countryside in the SE is just not that appealing as a result.

 

[briantrumpet]

The problem for me is less about public transport, but how the sheer number of cars makes other forms of transport (e.g. walking and biking) unpleasant. Some very rural places are less affected, but much of the countryside in the SE is just not that appealing as a result.

Agree with all of that. It was one of the joys of lockdown that cars didn't dominate every road and landscape.

 

[First Aspect]

The problem for me is less about public transport, but how the sheer number of cars makes other forms of transport (e.g. walking and biking) unpleasant. Some very rural places are less affected, but much of the countryside in the SE is just not that appealing as a result.

Ah, I see your mistake. You have conflated "countryside" with "the SE".

Most of the visually rural SE is better connected by public transport (albeit you probably need a car to avail yourself of it) than quite a few towns outside of the SE, let alone places that are actually rural.

 

[PurplePenguin]

Ah, I see your mistake. You have conflated "countryside" with "the SE".

Most of the visually rural SE is better connected by public transport (albeit you probably need a car to avail yourself of it) than quite a few towns outside of the SE, let alone places that are actually rural.

It may surprise you, but I have left zone 1 in London before.

 

[Pblakeney]

Agree with all of that. It was one of the joys of lockdown that cars didn't dominate every road and landscape.

I loved a lockdown, me.

 

[First Aspect]

It may surprise you, but I have left zone 1 in London before.

Yes, it does suprise me. Was it in a school trip to see how poor people live?

 

[C R]

Yes, it does suprise me. Was it in a school trip to see how poor people live?

No, he missed the tube stop and got out to turn back at the first zone 2 station.

 

[Stevo 666]

The problem for me is less about public transport, but how the sheer number of cars makes other forms of transport (e.g. walking and biking) unpleasant. Some very rural places are less affected, but much of the countryside in the SE is just not that appealing as a result.

You could drive there?