Some people bring it up to be unpleasant but I don’t get upset any more It’s folklore It’s not going to get any worse

“Some people bring it up to be unpleasant, but I don’t get upset any more It’s folklore It’s not going to get any worse or better. For this article, I promised to confine all mention of his downfall to one paragraph, so: before an audience of businessmen at the Institute of Directors Convention at the Albert Hall on April 23, 1991, he made a small pleasantry “It was a joke to make the speech more interesting. His sad hazel eyes radiate defensiveness and hurt, while his speech drops to an intense sullen whisper when confronted by things he doesn’t want to talk about.Which brings us to the main obstacle in meeting Mr Ratner, namely That Speech. The problem, when you meet Ratner, is trying to decide whether or not you dislike the shameless hustler he purports to be, relentlessly positive, irritable about suggestions of failure He is no Del Boy Trotter. “We believe that giving you our products to sell is the best gift of all.” “Tell ‘im our mission statement, Tony,” Ratner rasps, “which is to make as much money as possible.”When we met, the bar/tearoom was full of children, and the only place that offered privacy was, perversely, the creche.

It’s where we now sit, two grown men gravely conversing about the world of commerce while perched on tiny green chairs which look as if they may at any moment be loudly reclaimed by Baby Bear. Shrewdly reasoning that “Everything’s geared to families these days”, he bought a log cabin for pounds 4,000 and spent pounds 25,000 fitting it out with bathroom and play areas. What, Ratner asks, will their discount be? “We’re not a discount company,” says the New Ager sleekly. Is it a white lie, a business fib, or worse? Elsewhere, there’s a delicious scene in which Ratner and his partner Tony are negotiating with a London entrepreneur of environmentally friendly beauty products, a man full of New Age baloney about “mission statements” and “carrying the message”. It’s like watching Challenge Anneka, rewritten by Dostoevsky.Most interestingly it presents a picture of the modern businessman as a grasping, sour, mendacious bully. In one scene, Ratner explains to a punter why it’s a little warm in the gym.

“I can’t put the air conditioning on,” he says, “because the floor will warp.” To another he explains that he hasn’t put it on “because it dries up your mouth” The truth is, they hadn’t installed any air conditioning. He was messed around by gym suppliers, thwarted by stroppy builders and swimming pool constructors. He had rows with his partners, his wife, his managers, his catering staff. And it was all captured on camera by the unblinking eye of BBC2’s Trouble at the Top documentary team, whose first programme, “Ratner Returns” goes out on Wednesday 18 February. Viewers can relish the spectacle of Mr Ratner being grilled about responsibility by his eight-year-old daughter Sarah, and, with the gym’s launch party imminent, becoming frantic about the electrical cables poking out of the loo and the all-pervading smell of garlic in the bar. And while his name used to be a synonym for discounted sparklers, piled high and sold cheap, at 2,000 outlets all over the country, this new venture is a single, high-quality, site-specific thing that needs over a thousand loyal adherents to make his fortune.Getting the thing under way was a nail-biting time.