What are the 4-wire cables use for?
Those cables have totally different applications.  On the left, you have common household power cable in the modern EU (IEC) colors: 


Ground: mandatory green/yellow  
Neutral: mandatory blue (today; older installations use other colors) 
Hot: by common practice, brown 


The American equivalent is bare-white-black.  These colors in 14-2 Romex (jacketed cable; 14 gauge; 2 conductors +ground) is used all over the place in every US home.



The right is for three-phase power, specifically "delta" power (which by definition does not have a neutral.) That is why there is no blue "neutral" in the bundle.  This is bigger power, for heavier loads such as factory lighting or air conditioning in a large retail store.  

It'd be an odd duck in residences — while three-phase "wye" power comes down your street (230 V to neutral, 400 V phase to phase), it's rare to pull all 3 phases into a home.  Probably more common in a townhouse (mansion) or a 12-unit apartment block.  Because of its notable lack of neutral, this cable would only be useful for running large motors or heating units, say to deliver 400 V delta to a large air conditioning unit of 5 kW capacity.  Here are the IEC color codes: 


Ground: mandatory green/yellow
Phase 1: Brown
Phase 2: Black
Phase 3: Gray


Black is no longer legal for neutrals in the UK, and unless the cable is pre-2004 old stock, it is certainly intended for 3-phase delta, since the colors are just right for it.

What I hear from Euro folks is this is how  normal 3-and-earth is sold, and you are expected to re-mark one of the phase wires to be neutral (if you need neutral).  I would re-mark the black, since you should take it "out of play" as it's not a valid neutral color anymore, so that'll reduce confusion. 

Note: North American people can never re-mark or re-sleeve wires, *except in cables, they can re-mark a white (neutral) wire to be a phase/hot. In wiring where only certain wires are always-hot, the remarked white must be used for the always-hot.