Private versus Public ownership

If you are looking for justification for the benefits of private entrepreneurship versus public ownership, you need look no further than the beach at West Wittering.

I bought a beach hut there three years ago, against much advice. Polly my P/A – so astute in property matters – observed

“That’s a lot of money for a shed with no running water and where you can’t sleep over …”

Separately, two property lawyers advised me that – as I had but a licence and no legal title – it was effectively worthless.

In fact it’s not a cheap shed but a plot of land where you can build a shed. Demand exceeds supply and it has not only proved a sound investment but one I enjoy too – and it’s readily saleable.

Articles on one of the best sandy beaches on the South Coast habitually refer to the three most famous residents of West Wittering: Keith Richard, Kate Winslet and Nicholas Lyndhurst.

Yet it has one major flaw: a lack of amenities.

I travel regularly to Nice and – along the famous Promenade des Anglais, so called as it was built by English convicts – are numerous beach bars that offer food, loungers and changing facilities. They range from the glitzy but expensive (Beau Rivage) to the more basic Opera and Blue Beach where you can enjoy fresh grilled loup – a fish not unlike Sea Bass – washed down by a chilled Sancerre, overlooking the Med, for under €20.

By contrast West Wittering Beach has just one cafe serving execrable food.

How well would a French-style Brasserie and cocktail bar offering sundowners do?

I understand that in the past a group of shareholders did try to get a better restaurant operating but this was turned down.

If you reflect upon where two rival countries operate a free market or doctrinaires communism perform – South and North Korea, East or West Germany, the Soviet Bloc and the USA, the capitalist economy always comes out on top.