Although we are all familiar with the concept of gates I think it is fair to say that none of us really has to deal with them on anything but an extremely rare occasion. The idea that gates could have supported a whole micro-economy is something that I can only marvel at!

But such is the nature of opportunity and as we can see in this piece from Charlie the window which is available to capitalise upon it can be all too short. In “The Gates” Charlie tells us just how quickly, as motoring became both an enjoyable pastime and a business imperative that, there was a class of people who were only too willing to grasp the commercial challenge that it presented.

Not only were these gatekeepers quick to latch on to the income potential that these gates represented but they also seem to have been quick to grasp the capacity to regard these same gates as a marketable commodity. Very enterprising.

Yet it seems that the speed at which the gatekeepers were able to become commonplace was outmatched by the speed of their demise with the onset of the second world war.