Sorry Homebase, not even Bob the Builder could fix Gen Z's lack of DIY skills

About two decades ago, I decided that it was time to transform myself from a soft-handed, martini-quaffing, media-dwelling young thing into, well, a sort of grown-up.

- WILL GORE

So, I did what any self-respecting individual in such a position would do: I went to Homebase and bought myself a toolbox.

It was a fairly simple affair, but big enough to fit my entire collection of tools into it – which at that stage comprised a saw, a couple of screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, some sandpaper, and a few other odds and ends. I felt pretty manly by the time I’d packed away my gear, and only then realized I had nowhere in our small flat to actually store the toolbox.

“Never mind,” I told my wife-to-be cheerfully. “I’ll just make a box for it and keep it in the garden.” She laughed at me – a lot. I tried to make a box for my box. And failed.

Eventually, I found somewhere indoors to stash it, where it gradually gathered dust. Unlike the toolbox, the tale of my first unsuccessful attempt at DIY still gets pulled out at family gatherings with remarkable regularity.

This kind of modern-day fable could explain why poor old Homebase fell into administration this week. There may still be customers willing to buy the odd tool, and even a nice toolbox to keep them in ever so neatly. But how many people then know how to actually make or repair anything?