"Market forces"

Some things just don't fit into the boxes that market forces insist they do. Take pubs, for example. Beer is a very, very important thing, and, as John Betjeman once highlighted, so are the pubs that serve them. Still, in the years that have elapsed since those years, pubs are being bought out, refurbished, or sold to be redeveloped.This fantastic bar in Seahouses is a case in point. One of the finest pub rooms in Britain, this place has remained in one family for 110 years. But what have they done out the back? Refurbed the rooms in a style more in keeping with a Beefeater than a historic harbourside pub...It seems that some things do not respond well to the application of market forces.
However, there is a problem at the other end of the scale too. Lured into the entrance of Appleby Castle by some particularly cute goats while out on a bike ride yesterday, I started reading a large sign, written in calligraphic writing, concerning the recent history of the castle. It made fascinating reading. After having bought it, the new owners had, with the backing of Eden council and the Northwest Development Agency, fixed on a plan to make it a conference and wedding venue with little or no disruption to the Castle itself. It would have brought in three quarters of a million pounds to the local economy, or thereabouts. In a bizarre twist, English Heritage squashed the plan, with no explanation or negotiation. Now the castle is closed to the public, the owners cannot sell it, and the community has "lost" an opportunity. At this end of the scale, it appears that a large governing body is closed to any creative application of those market forces. Strange.