Deals in the City are famously done over linen-draped restaurant tables and leaning against marble bars tops. The more wine, the easier the deal, no?

Apparently the crunch has come. So has the deal-flow dried up with the wine-flow, or is everyone reaching for the wine list and the pocket calculator?

No-one know better the answer to this question than Richard Balls, boss of the legendary Balls Brothers who have been oiling the City's wheels for 150 years.

Research: Balls Brothers

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