The “Local”

When I briefly lived in London many years ago, the local pub was the nearest thing that served as a club for the vast majority of “working men”.

Although meeting at the local bar occasionally does happen, the concept of the local pub substituting for a club, has, in Australia, been largely overtaken by coffee and cakes on a regular basis for women, while the Bunnings sausage sizzle (despite COVID putting it on hold for a year), is where working men meet.

The spectacular rise of Bunnings from a simple Perth timberyard 30 years ago to the mammoth home and hardware shopping mecca it has become today, is as much a share market glamour ride for Wesfarmers as it has been for the millions of Australians who regard their local Bunnings store as a home away from the missus and the kids.