Heritage. In this climate, what does that mean?

Her parents were probably born in 1972.

This waitress from, Maxwell's, a modest grub-factory in a fantastic location, opposite the Apple Store in Covent Garden, on an (undoubtedly) well-earned break got me thinking.

I was struck by the loud and proud 'since 1972' embroidered on her shirt. It made me chuckle because I live in a city where it's difficult to walk down a street and not see an 'established in 1659, 1597, 1473' sign and so on: this is an ancient city. It made me wonder how we define heritage and longevity in these strange economic times. 

In the UK we have Blue Plaques on buildings, placed by National Heritage, to signify that persons of historical importance lived there, or that something of importance happened there. Perhaps we need a new strand, that being something to acknowledge the businesses who rode the fiscal Helter Skelter of the last 30 years and emerged without being sick.