Bernard Ginns: It's lunchtime where you can get to the meat of the matter

The master of the art was Keith Waterhouse, late of these parts, who once wrote a book about it called The Theory and Practice of Lunch.

Those days are largely gone, consigned to newspaper folklore, but lunch remains an important part of the job for any serious journalist, particularly those who operate in the business world.

Lunch is when you meet your contacts and pick up vital intelligence about what's going on. All the press releases in the world can't compete with the newsgathering potential of a good lunch with a well-informed contact.

Many take place off the record and are strictly for background purposes, but others will be on the record and yield some informed commentary on the current thinking about business and the economy.

It's not just hacks who benefit from lunch, though.

According to Hugh Johnson, the wine writer, businesses neglect lunch at their peril. He wrote: "Firms seduced by the idea that number of hours at the desk matters more than quality of life lived may plod along. But will they fly?

"Physiologists have told us what we know by instinct and experience: that tastebuds are on full alert at the end of the morning.

"Energy is flowing to the brain. Waitresses are still untired; chefs are straining at the leash. It is the unjaded hour, the hour to persuade, to make friends, to make connections, to see the world in a fresh light."

With this in mind I'll disclose the contents of a lunch with a seasoned corporate lawyer in La Grillade last week.

Martin Shaw, the Leeds-based head of corporate Europe at Pinsent Masons, is predicting a significant pick-up in activity in the fourth quarter of the year. There are, he said, four main reasons for this.

"First, as time goes by, these uncertainties we had emanating from the recession and political situation and world events just calm down. It's a confidence thing.

"Exactly the same thing happened after 9-11. There was stasis. You couldn't get insurance because people thought the world was under attack.

"After time, it was almost as if chief executives looked around and said 'we're okay, let's get on with it' and there was a massive take-off.

"The received wisdom I'm picking up in the City is that the end of the year is about right.

"Second, although it has not moved as quickly as it should have done, credit is becoming easier and will be marginally cheaper because companies will be in a better place.

"Third, many companies have had new chief executives who have carried out strategy reviews but have not been able to do anything for two and a half years.

"They are starting to come under pressure from institutional shareholders particularly to start to look at business plans. There's a lot of funding and they want to do something. "Fourth, sale prices 18 months ago were so low that sellers shut up shop and would not entertain a sale.

"Now they are likely to sell at a higher price. The reason why is because of certainty rather than uncertainty. A bird in the hand.

"All these things point to the end of the year."

Signs of growth will be a revival of activity in the markets for bolt-on mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings, said Mr Shaw.

Based on four decades of experience in the corporate world, these are views worth sharing.

They certainly give some food for thought.

IS the writing on the wall for Business Link Yorkshire?

Mark Prisk, the new government minister for small business, is not exactly enamoured with the service, which costs the taxpayer 35m a year in Yorkshire.

He said at the weekend: "I remain very sceptical about the effectiveness of the existing regional Business Links and that is why I am examining them very carefully."

A spokesman for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills told me: "Nothing has been decided categorically on this.

"The department is reviewing all measures for the future of business support. The decision taken will be evidence based."

Barnsley-based Business Link Yorkshire employs around 400 people.