I've just launched a new blog - 173 Drury Lane, a place to talk about Sainsbury's - with my friends Freddie Daniells and Max Blumberg.

Over coffee a couple of weeks ago, we found ourselves interested in the fate of Sainsbury's. (A food retailer in the UK, once pre-eminent, now troubled.) We realised we each felt a sentimental attachment to this brand (in my case, because I worked for Lord (Alan) Sainsbury for a year).

We thought it would be interesting to read a weblog about Sainsbury's. So as the company hasn't created any that we've seen, we've created one ourselves.

We named it 173 Drury Lane, after the address of the the very first Sainsbury's, opened in 1869.

Here's how we describe the purpose of the blog:

We created this website because we wanted to generate an online discussion about the future of Sainsbury’s. To be very clear, this site is NOT authorised or written by J.Sainsbury plc.

Most people know that Sainsbury’s has been in the headlines lately, and often for the wrong reasons. We think it’s a shame that the company is having a tough time; that’s not good for anyone who works there, shops there or invests in Sainsbury’s.

So we thought: what could we do about it?

Although we are all marketing consultants, we wanted to avoid the usual mistake of smugly coming up with miracle solutions for problems. And the last thing Sainsbury’s needs right now is another bunch of experts complacently telling them what to do.

Instead, we thought it would be more fun, and more productive, to host a discussion – between ourselves, and with anyone else – about how Sainsbury’s could do better.

What we’re aiming for here is constructive debate. We welcome heartfelt criticism as well as praise, with the intention of pointing to some more positive futures for Sainsbury’s.

So, whatever your relationship to Sainsbury’s – shopper, investor, employee, director, shareholder or competitor – you’re invited to join the discussion.