The offer by Starbucks to cough up millions in taxes is driven by one thing only – fear. The fear of sales and profits slumps as we vote with our feet not to buy from a business that seeks shareholder value over its obligations to the country in which it is operating has left many often impulse-buys with them to become impulse-don’t buys.

There has been no dramatic overnight realisation that a recession struck economy needs its coffers lined in order to build ourselves out of it. There has been no board room moral re-think – and perhaps we shouldn’t even expect that to be the case.

You can hardly imagine an annual general meeting of shareholders standing up and screaming “More taxes, less profits!” But that’s precisely what us, the customers, are saying by choosing to buy elsewhere.

There’s a small but growing percentage of customers at Roast who choose us not just because we have a beautiful building and great food and drink, but also because they appreciate the wider social commitments and practices we as a company adopt. They choose to spend their money with like-minded people.

As a Socialist friend of mine observed the other day, this is the opposite of Marxism. This is pure capitalism. It’s the market that decides. We look forward to seeing the colour of the Starbucks money to resolve their problem – £10million has been mooted as the deal price with HMRC. In many ways they are a good company, committing to take on apprentices and the like.

If they pay it out, it will be fascinating to see how quickly they get that much back from returning – and forgiving – customers.