For a while the government experimented with controls on prices and incomes in a largely unsuccessful attempt to stop the leapfrogging of pay demands.

The struggle to stage any kind of meaningful recovery has been long, arduous and, so far, largely unsuccessful.

Attempts to sublet to bigger retailers, however, have been largely unsuccessful and moves to bring in supermarkets have been restricted by local authorities.

Most also went through a long initial period in which they were largely unsuccessful as investors, learning by making mistakes, before they found an approach that worked for them.

Attempts at revitalizing it in the 1980s with management and worker incentive programs were largely unsuccessful.