I've noticed in recent years that all sorts of appliances, desk and table lamps, outside light fittings, etc. all come with Edison Screw (E27) lamp holders in them. So I've started to run down my stock of bayonet cap bulbs and assumed that I'd gradually go over to having E27 bases everywhere, even if that meant replacing old lamp holders that hang down from the ceiling roses with E27 holders (many of them need replacing anyway as the bakelite cracks from the heat after some years).
Today I got a couple of CFLs at a good price when reduced to clear, but they were only available cheap in E27 bases. So I immediately tried to buy some E27 lamp holders, preferably with a cord grip. But as far as I can see, they hardly exist. I could not find any in B&Q, or Wilkinsons, or Tescos, or or the online listings of Homebase, or Wickes, or Screwfix or Toolstation, or Maplin.
There must be something going on that I don't understand - is there something wrong with using an Edison screw lamp holder for a lamp that hangs from the ceiling rose? If not, that means keeping a stock of spare lamps in both base types. Does everyone do that nowadays?
I haven't even found it easy to buy E27 lamp holders on line: the prices seem to be at least three times that for bayonet cap holders. Since much of the rest of the world seems to have standardised on E27 decades ago, and at least half the bulbs in the shops now have E27 bases, I don't understand why the corresponding lamp holders are so hard to find.