In this country, European brands come and go and just a few manage to establish a meaningful presence.

H&M and Zara are both instances of the latter and if you asked the man on the Clapham omnibus where they originated from he probably wouldn’t have a clue, or be particularly bothered.

Both Zara and H&M provide the kind of consistent delivery of product and retail environment that makes shoppers imagine that they have been around forever. In fact, in the case of Inditex, it is little more than a decade since its first Zara stores arrived in this country and the chain still only has 100 outlets in the UK and Ireland.

The question that needs to be asked is whether there is room for another fascia from the Spanish retail group in what is a particularly crowded market. Pull and Bear, aside from being a name that conjures up pictures of a design consultancy naming exercise conducted in a pub, is a retail brand that can be found across the Continent. But the first UK branch has only just opened – in Liverpool One.

And yet, it is Inditex’s most numerous brand after Zara. Forget Berska, put Massimo Dutti out of mind, this is the most significant, to judge by the number of shops over which its logo appears. So is this the beginning of a new force in UK retailing? The chances are that it will be here for the long-term.

Why? Well, it’s simple really. Inditex is a retail organisation that will make it work by making the adjustments to product and store interior to ensure that it is successful. Inditex and H&M may both be international behemoths, but they do manage to make their offers appropriate to the markets they want to serve.

This is in contrast to outfits such as the Liz Claiborne-owned brand Mexx, which is closing its UK operation next month. The problem with Mexx is that it looks, feels and indeed is, an American-Dutch hybrid that is broadly out of touch with what UK consumers want. Something of the kind happened at the beginning of the decade when C&A admitted that putting middle-European merchandise into this country, at whatever price, might not be the smartest thing that it had done.

The next Pull and Bear store is set to open on Oxford Street in 2009, but if Liverpool works, it would not be entirely surprising if it were to make an appearance at Westfield’s White City scheme this autumn. Expect more Pull and Bears soon.