Eleven years empty, then this
The exchange that set the district's cattle prices, bought as a shell, restored around the two things worth keeping: the rostrum and the board.
What survived eleven empty years
The terrazzo, the columns, the brass rail, the rostrum and forty feet of slate trading board. Everything else had gone to rot or to thieves.
The cool store at the back had the right walls for a hanging room, so that is what it became, with a glass front so you can watch the beef age.
The upstairs offices are still full of ledgers. We are slowly reading them and slowly framing the better pages for the walls.
Seven staff
Kitchen, floor and one butcher who works Tuesdays.
Ninety seats
Dining and cards on one floor, and no more than that.
Ten tables
Between the columns, each under its own shade.
Three things we will not trade away
A game is a game. Nothing is staked, nothing is won in money and nobody leaves owing a soul.
Beef comes from the district or it does not come at all, and the board says which property it came off.
Nobody drives home after a long lot without being offered a car first, and we ask twice.