The Evolving Culture of Retailer Regulation and the Failure of the ‘Balfour Bill’ in Interwar Britain

The authors explore the interactions between retailer conflict, types of competition, and retail regulation. Their study is set within the wider debates surrounding the attempts to retheorise retail geography, and, more specifically, in the context of retail competition within interwar Britain. The specific focus is on the attempts to control large-scale corporate retailing, and the failure of such strategies. The authors also draw on comparisons with the situation in the USA and show that the British case was very different, as illustrated by the failure of the ‘Balfour Bill’. Within this context they debate a number of reasons why the attempts to regulate retailing failed in Britain. On a broader front they also demonstrate the need for further research into the complex relationships between retailer conflict and regulatory control.