Andy Street's John Lewis is a quiet victor of the recession He takes heart from a recent survey showing 75pc of Britons would trust John Lewis if it were a bank. Although Mr Street has no plans to implement the proposal directly, a combination of a flat retail market broadly and clear consumer faith in the John Lewis brand has persuaded him to move into the broader services market. John Lewis insurance, the first such innovation, has been available for two years, seeing customer numbers double to 200,000. With a retention rate of 85pc and strong growth, Mr Street expects financial services to generate about a 10th of the group's revenues by 2017. It is about fair pricing, it is about good service when you ring up the helpline, straightforwardness and honesty. All of those things have pervaded John Lewis for many years. Our customers are saying 'John Lewis, you have permission to do this" because we trust your values." It is a permission he has interpreted liberally, announcing a broadband service and a travel partnership with Kuoni this year in an attempt to reciprocate customers" loyalty by offering them a "deeper relationship." The relationship is also crossing countries for the first time. Mr Street is planning a series of European websites targeted mainly at expats, with payment in euros and delivery to the continent. Although no final decision has been made, the sites could launch as early as next year. "This isn't about every French woman suddenly becoming a John Lewis customer," he concedes. It is expats and business people who have been to London and had the experience. This John Lewis diaspora made online purchases from 218 countries in one recent week - more countries than belong to the United Nations. But while these developments might be seen to target the stereotype of the company's affluent shopper seeking twinsets and tea sets, Mr Street is clear that the success of recent years owes much to attracting a new type of customer, both younger and less well-off. Certainly if you take some of our shops in London, the young singleton with quite a contemporary lifestyle is absolutely a core John Lewis customer. It is middle income rather than 'middle England. If you live in Nottingham, Sheffield or Liverpool, John Lewis is the department store for everybody. About 75pc of people who live in those cities would go every year. If a company owned by its staff has been so successful in attracting such diverse customers, was Nick Clegg right to call for a "John Lewis Britain," modelled on employee ownership? Mr Street agrees it would be "hugely desirable" but is characteristically cautious. What I don't think is practical is that suddenly there is going to be a great conversion to the John Lewis model. The sort of thing that Spedan Lewis [the founder] did 80 years ago was pretty unique. But I do think if you were a first-generation owner of a company, you might think about a move to employee ownership. Even without such a shift in direction, he is relatively optimistic about the UK economy, suggesting that the Olympic effect will "move the dial" in the third quarter and that the positive gap emerging between pay increases and inflation will help bolster consumer spending. I see the private sector creating jobs and I see the best private sector companies exporting. They will be the determinants of long-term competitiveness in time. However volatile the economy, Mr Street is confident of one thing - John Lewis will continue to tell its quiet success story.