Moving from the tungsten-light bathed boardroom with its Christmas tree through to his private office, Fortnum & Mason’s chief executive Ewan Venters smiles. “Fortnum’s and Christmas is quite synonymous, isn’t it?” he says. The sentence framed more as a statement than a question.

It’s hard to argue with. As the nights draw in and Christmas gets closer, the food retailer’s Piccadilly flagship pulls crowds of tourists and Londoners alike to gawp, take pictures of the building’s festively effervescent exterior and famous window displays – and to snap up its delicacies.