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NARRATOR: On Salvage Hunters, rusty relics stir Drew's emotions...
DREW: My favourite place to be.
Just the best bit, salvage yards, this.
..an enigmatic figure sweeps Viki off her feet...
Oh. (LAUGHS)Yeah, she dances as well, yeah.Oh, crikey. (LAUGHS)
..and tough negotiating lands a deal too good to be true.
For the four, I'll do them for £120.Hm.
I think what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna go outside,
and then you just take what you want
and then I'll leave a donation box by the door, all right?
Drew Pritchard is one of Britain's
leading antique and decorative salvage dealers...
It's a great-looking thing, isn't it? Fab thing.
..joined on the road by queen of the haggle
and quick flip, Viki Knott...
£275, the lot.Yeah. Yeah, I'll take them.
..and lover of all things weathered and wonderful, Alister Dryburgh...
Just needs a load of cleaning. ALISTER: You clean it, I'll sell it.
Can we do it the other way around? (BOTH LAUGH)
..Drew is sharing the knowledge...
What are those over there, Drew? They're great little mill carts.
..and the expertise... Three-step Anglepoise. Rare as hell.
Good, it's an education already.
..he's gained over the past three decades.
Would have to be a really buy-me-now price,
but I don't think it will be. £550, Drew.
(ALL LAUGH)
Today we're going off to meet a guy called Jeremy at Grayshott Antiques.
Dealer of years' standing. Years and years and years. Decades.
Worked for all the best people. Knows what he's on about.
What sort of stuff does he do?
Classic English country house.OK.
With Viki holding the grand opening of her new shop
in just a few days, she needs to fill the van.
So today, she and Drew
are travelling 300 miles into Devon
to a dealer Drew's been impressed by but never met,
and who could be an important contact
for Viki in the future.
Look at this place.I know. Look at this view.
It's not a bad redrive down, is it? Wow. Look. Look at that.
God, that's beautiful.
For centuries, the Devonshire countryside has been wool country.
But more recently, an extraordinary antiques collection
has been shepherded onto a farm just outside Exeter.
Having run not one but three antique shops,
veteran dealer Jeremy Sellick
now sells to visitors by appointments only.
I started in 1984 in Central London,
working for an antique shop there,
and progressed all sorts, in different directions ever since.
I like to buy anything that's unusual,
anything that sings to me, everything that tugs
at my heartstrings and I can't live without.
In fact, I was taught once by the chap that I first worked for,
and he said, "Don't buy anything unless you can live with it,
because you might have to." Very good point.
I'm very much looking forward to meeting Drew and Viki.
I have done some business with Drew in the past, but over the telephone.
I'm looking forward very much to meeting him.
Hello there.Hi there. I'm Viki. I'm Jeremy. How do you do? Hi, Jeremy.
Jeremy.Hi, Drew. How are you doing?
Welcome to the barn. Thanks very much. This looks good.
Interesting.Thank you. How long you been in here?
About two or three years. Oh, really? Is that all?Yeah. Looks like you've been here forever.
Yeah, well, it's my artistic design, you see?
I love the way it looks like you've thrown it together.
Yeah. It was strange, that, isn't it?(MEN LAUGH)
Like I've just tossed it. We went to the same school.
Yeah, I've got something that looks exactly the same.
We've got a lot of friends in common and a lot of clients in common,
and clearly, very similar taste in antiques as well.
Straightaway, within seconds, I'm going,
"I like that. That's interesting. Wanna have a better look at that."
Have you got a shop somewhere? No, I used to have.Yeah.
Erm, and then got a bit fed up
with sitting around in the shop, really.OK.
And I had a couple of health issues
and decided to shut the shops and just trade from here.
Really?Yeah.Nothing too serious, I hope.It was a heart attack.
Oh, God, don't say that.No, it's fine. I'm absolutely fine now.
Really?Yeah. Well, I've had my heart removed
and another liver put in.(LAUGHS)
Having a shop is really stressful.
It is really stressful. Viki's just bought a shop.
(ALL LAUGH)Have you? Oh, well done.
Of course, it's the best thing to do.Yeah.It's not open yet.
My biggest problem was always manning them.
You can't get out to buy unless you've got someone to look after the shop.
Well, that's -Of course, nobody can sell your stuff like you can.Yeah.
So that's why I am only open on a Saturday.Oh.(BOTH LAUGH)
Go on, then, what are they?
I thought they were some sort of voodoo thing.
Who's the artist?I've got no idea. I've got no idea about it.
I can't even remember where I got them from. They look macabre to me.
Yeah, they've got a sort of an Egyptian...Yeah.
You know, those figures with sort of human figures with the...
With the bird head, yeah. Yeah...bird heads.Hm.
What are they made out of? I think they're just clay.
Do you like them?I actually think they're weirdly beautiful, to be honest.Yeah, I do.
How much are they? You know, I don't know.Hm.
I'll have a think about it while we're walking around. All right. OK.
I think they've got something. Well, same thing you saw.Yeah, exactly.
The first thing that I pick up
are these three small fired clay little figurines.
So they're of human form, two male, one female
with animals' heads, dog and two bird-like heads.
Very simply and quickly put together,
but by somebody who really knows what they're doing as well.
I could see why he bought them, and I wanna own them now.
We can't decide on a price. There's no rush.
We'll come back to it, we'll come back to it.
Those mirrors over there as well. What, the pair?Yes.Yeah.
I like those a lot.You like a bit of velvet just now, eh?
Any furniture covered in red velvet, I'm a total sucker for it.Yeah.
That one underneath there, that's missing that.
That's a pain, but I can get it done.Yeah.
I have got a fantastic metal worker, luckily.
That's quite handy, then. Mm.(ALL LAUGH)
With red velvet backboards,
each of these late 19th century European mirrors
is trimmed with brass, denoting a quality maker
and adding to the decorative effect of the brilliant cut border
which refracts the light.
With some restoration to one of the sconces
that were originally used for candles,
the pair could sell for around £800 on Drew's websites.
What're you asking for them? £600, the pair.
I think there's a profit in them. I'll buy those.
Thanks very much.Thank you very much.Much appreciated.
These are saleable. They're really saleable.
They've got to be right. We've gotta get the work done.
It's worth doing. They're a very good object.
Perfect for your new shop, look.
You can have that as a present for your Saturday shop.
That's a bit of good luck. Good of you.
It just really amused me, that, when I had my shop.
"Notice to shop assistants. Store must open promptly."
Quite right.Yes. Eleven o'clock, close by 11:15.
"Any employee who is in the habit of smoking Spanish cigars,
getting shaved at a barber shop,
going to dances and other such places of amusement
will surely give his employer a reason
to be suspicious of his integrity and all-round honesty."
Smoking cigars?Yes. Spanish ones. Those Spanish ones, yeah.
Wait a minute. (LAUGHS) This is even better.
"Men are given one evening a week for courting purposes..."
Oh."..and two if they go to prayer meetings regularly."
You know, it's sort of thing you'd probably
find in Bournville or somewhere like that
where they were Quakers, and it was just...Yeah.Yeah.
Maybe that's the Quaker thing. Could be something like that.
But that's a bit of good luck, so that's nice.Yeah. There you go. Thank you.You're welcome.
It's an old dealer thing. Bit of luck money.Of course, it is.
I am a shopkeeper. That is what I do.
And anything to do with shops, I love to buy it.
And then when we started reading it, it was just brilliant.
One of the best things I've had. And what's lovely is,
Jeremy gave me it as a little bit of luck,
which is what a lot of dealers do. So it's...
Yeah, it's made my day, that little sign.
This chair, tell me about that. It looks all right to me.
Yeah, it's had a new caster on the front.
OK.But apart from that, it's absolutely right.
It's obviously a desk chair, isn't it? So you can pull it up to the desk.
Handsome beast.Yes, I am.
(CHUCKLES) The chair's not bad.
The leather library chair, late 1830s,
English, lovely thing.
I mean, it's very masculine,
clearly quite butch, all its proportions.
The legs aren't dainty by any stretch of the imagination.
The leather is thick and brown, and it's like,
you know, it's unapologetic in its styling.
With fluted legs influenced by the pillars
of ancient Greek architecture,
this chair has the classical design influences
and stately proportions of the late Georgian era.
The leather seats are the originals, with almost 200 years of patination,
but unusually, no damage.
The mahogany armrests are shortened
to allow the chair to be pulled up for desk work.
In highly original condition,
Drew thinks it could be worth around £1,050.
What are you asking for it?£850.
In the build-up to Viki's shop opening,
Drew's taken her to the West Country to visit a fellow dealer
who understands what she's going through.
Having a shop is really stressful. It is really stressful.
Viki's just bought a shop. (MEN LAUGH)Have you?
And a late Georgian library chair with original leather intact
has swept Drew off his feet.
What are you asking for it?£850.
For 850 quid, you can forgive a lot, can't you?
I would have thought so. Thank you very much. Thank you.Much appreciated.
It's fab, isn't it? It's worth buying for the seat.
The stitching down there, I'd buy it for that. I think it's lovely.
£850 asked, £850 paid. Yes, please.
More and more people are working from home.
Who doesn't want a fantastic desk chair in their house?
That one looks good at 30ft away,
and it looks good at two feet away, and it's comfortable.
That's pretty, isn't it? It's sweet, isn't it?Hm.
That is nice. Lovely watercolour.
There's a naivety to that. It's nice. I like that.
How much is that?£150.Oh.
Worth every penny.Ouch.Ouch.
It's too beautiful.Mm. Don't give me that dealer thing.
It's not 150 quid beautiful.It is.
It is very sweet. I didn't see it at that, though.OK.
I'll be honest. I'll just say it out loud.
Go on, then.Brace yourself. No swearing.
My head says £80, but I could do £100.Whoa.
I told you I had a heart attack, didn't I?
No, you never.Go on, you can have it for £100. Go on.
£100?Yeah.Perfect. Thank you, Viki.Thank you.
It's difficult to say no, isn't it?Yeah, it is. Really difficult to say no to her.
Especially since she was kicking me in the leg.(LAUGHS)
You're lucky it was just your leg. Yeah.(ALL LAUGH)
It's just a really early sweet watercolour.
It's quite naive, how it's done.
You know, some young girl's probably painted it or something,
but there's just something so delightful
about these little watercolours that I can't help but buy.
You know what these were from? They're brackets.
They're just brackets. Beautiful, aren't they?
Great colour. What do you need for them?
For the four, I'll do them for £120. Hm.
God, I hate that noise. Look at that face.That "hm".
I think what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna go outside, and then you just take what you want,
and then I'll leave a donation box by the door, all right?
And I don't want any more "hm". All right?
All right, OK. So 60 quid wouldn't buy them.
No. Definitely not.(LAUGHS)
I've gotta get... I've just gotta go and cry in the corner.
My grandmother used to say, "God loves a trier."Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, Jeremy's just a good dealer.
He knows what his stuff's worth, he knows what he wants for it,
and that's it at the end of the day.
I'm still gonna put in cheeky bids and see if he fancies any.
I always do it with a little bit of a smile on my face.
What sort of money is in that little pair of, er...£60 to you.
That's a bargain. Don't go "hm".
I didn't make a noise.
You didn't, actually. I'm quite proud of you. Well done.
I think...there's not been a noise,
and there's not been a anything,
and I will shake your hand at 60 quid.Oh.
Do you wanna sit down, just to...? I think I might have to.
I am an absolute sucker for little woodcut block prints.
Now they look like Scottish trees to me.
That beautiful, structured sort of Scots pine-type tree.
But right beside it, there was a little etching,
so I thought, "Put two of them together.
I might get quite a sneaky wee deal."
So that's what we did. And, er, yeah, happy.
So I'm done, but I'm still intrigued by those figures.
I just don't know. I don't know either.60 quid.
Well, yeah.Cheap at that. Thanks, mate.Thank you very much.
Great day with Jeremy at Grayshott. I really like him.
We've been taking the mick out of Viki
and her bartering technique, which is particularly good.
I have to say she's nailed it.
If you can make anything you do
a bit more fun, do it. Why not?
I've had an absolute blast.
We've got on great, we've had a bit of banter,
and we've both bought really well.
So, yeah, top day.
Thank you for coming. Really nice to meet you.
Thanks, Jeremy. It's been brilliant. Yeah, likewise.
Are you all right? Yeah. All good, yeah.
I've gotta go and have a lie down now, if that's all right.
Cheers, Jeremy. Bye-bye. See you again. Cheers now. Bye.
I've had a marvellous time. Really good fun.
Really entertaining.
And sold a few things. What could be better?
Nice guy.Yeah, really nice guy. Nice guy.
Very pleased that, erm, chair I bought.
It's very you, I think. It is very me.
I remember somebody looking at all my stock and going,
"It's very masculine, isn't it?" I thought, "I suppose it is."
Yeah, but the thing is, though, you can say that,
you can say that it's quite masculine,
but you've got quite a delicate touch.
Oh, well, thank you very much. I think you have, anyway.Thank you.
Well, you like flowers and stuff, don't you?I do, yeah.
I love a bit of colour. Love a bit of pattern and colour.
A bit of flower arranging.
I love flower arranging. You know I do.
And you like faffing.I love a faff.
So, yeah, you're not masculine at all, are you?
(BOTH LAUGH)No.
It's been a great haul and an opportunity for Viki
to swap experiences with a seasoned former shopkeeper.
But while they're in the West Country,
Drew can't resist a return to an old favourite,
which might also prove to be a chance for Viki
to talk shop with a potentially valuable new contact.
Today, we're off to see a guy called Stephen who runs
Browns Architectural Antiques down in Devon.
Been there seven years ago, eight years ago.
I've since been watching what he's doing
on a regular basis and buying from him regularly.
Oh, really?Yeah.Is it a big yard?
Er, no, very manageable.
Not one of those massive, sprawling salvage yards, you know.
But he doesn't just do salvage. He does furniture, lighting,
decoration, garden antiques, bathrooms, fireplaces,
tiles, taps, lights, you name it.
So everything. All sorts of everything, yeah.
I know that you have a little kinda penchant for a salvage yard.
I do. I love them.
I find them ridiculously exciting.
Do you know, some people get excited by golf or going to the beach?
Yeah.I get excited by going around salvage yards. I love it.
The Devon market town of South Molton
prospered in the 18th century when it became a major supplier
of wool and fabric to the East India Company,
which, with its monopoly on the tea trade,
was forcing Chinese traders
to accept British textiles in exchange for tea.
Nowadays, the town's connection to far-flung places
is mainly through tourism,
and objects from far and wide have gathered here
to form a vast and eclectic collection
of reclamation and antiques,
the 25-year project of former social worker, Stephen Brown.
The site is about an acre altogether
with sort of 10,000sqft internal space,
and the rest is outside yard.
Cos we've got a big premises, we can do all sorts,
you know, mixture of antique furniture,
you know, painted mahogany furniture
to all the garden stuff and the building materials.
I love the business cos you never know what's gonna come in the door
or where you're gonna get invited to go
and stuff you're gonna find and the deals that you're gonna have.
Oh.
Hello.Hello.Hi, Stephen. How you doing?Good to see you.
Nice to meet you again. Thanks for coming again.
Good morning.You must be Viki. I am, Stephen.Nice to meet you.
Keen to get inside. Good. After you.Have a look around.
This is great.Yeah. It's good, isn't it?
Yeah.Told you you'd like it.
Today we've come to somewhere that
Drew has not stopped talking about for ages.
He said, "Next time we're down this way, we've got to come in and see Steve."
And just from getting out of the van,
this looks like it's gonna be an absolutely brilliant call for us.
He's fab.
Composition, so he's probably only made in the '70s or '80s.
Yeah, there is a date somewhere. I can't remember.
Oh, is there? I don't know if I can see it. It might be somewhere, I think.
There. 19... This either says 22 or 73. I can't...
I think it's... Yeah, I don't think it's 22.
It's almost as if he's sort of homemade.
And it doesn't look like... You see these mass-produced,
what I'd say, garden centre ones.
Yeah.This one doesn't seem to have that. It is actually a...
Piece of art, I suppose, you could call it
if it's a one-off and it's been handmade.
It's not a common or garden composition stone statue.
It's a properly made piece of statuary.
It's interesting. It's good. It has a feeling.
He's got quite a morose look. He's looking downward.
This statue is composition stone,
a mixture of cement and natural stone fragments,
which is often poured into moulds
to make cheaply reproducible garden ornaments.
However, the surface texture and character of this figure
are unusual in a factory model.
It was more likely constructed by hand-sculpting
the stone cement mixture onto a metal armature.
An enigmatic and probably unique art piece,
Drew thinks it could be worth around £925.
How much can that be, Stephen? Cos it's a bit of a chancy lot,
because I'm not sure whether I can get it away.
700 quid.
I think it's homemade. I do think it's homemade,
which is...way more interesting.
Way more valuable. Potentially, yeah.Yeah.
Don't side with him. (LAUGHS) I'm not. You're meant to be with my side.
I forgot to put the 1 in the front. It's actually £1700, yeah.
I was gonna ask for a bit more discount. I'm not gonna get it now, am I?
I think £700 is fairly reasonable. Yeah.
Thank you, sir.Thank you very much. It's really got something.
Most of you will be looking at it, going,
"Horrible. Horrible, that.
It's just a cheap, nasty garden sculpture."
It's not if you just look at it for a couple of seconds longer.
Ooh, hang on. It's just a bit better.
It's modernist in its style. There's something about it.
I was looking at these. What are these?
They could be from shops.
Sometimes you see them in shops when they have higher rails.Yeah.
So for clothes there. I still can't reach it.(LAUGHS)
I had a lady in who thought they were a sword the other day...
(GASPS) Yes.
..for a boy.Freedom. (LAUGHS) Shut up.
There was these sort of coat hanger-type,
crucifix-type, who knows what, hanging.
And if something catches your eye and it looks a little bit different,
it's worth a closer inspection.
And then once I got them down, they're oak,
they've got age to them. There's something about them.
Oh, you've got three over there. Another three over here.
So six, yeah.Six.
And you've got £22 each on them. If I bought the six of them...
I need a calculator to work out what I can do.
100 quid?
£110.
Yeah, I'll take the six of them.
Brilliant.Thank you very much. Thank you.
And can I keep this with me for the rest of the day?
What, in case Drew gets out of hand?
Can we have a sword fight later? Yeah.(LAUGHS)
If I can use them in the shop for display
or potentially just sell them on.
They're actually hung in a line,
I think they'll look quite cool. So I'm, yeah, happy with them.
You just have great things, Steve. Really, really. Isn't it?Yeah.
It's aspirational. You walk in here and you're like,
"I want to own this shop and I want to buy everything that's in it." That's a good shop.
I'll sell you my shop. I'll retire. I'll sell it. Yeah.
I've just sold mine.I heard, yeah.
Do you miss having a shop, though?No.No.
Having a shop these days is quite testing.
Yeah.(LAUGHS) Please.
Oh, you've just bought one. I've just bought a big new one...
(LAUGHS) ..which isn't quite open yet.
You don't have that problem with a shop.
People love you, so it's a different thing.
We'll see.We'll see.(LAUGHS)
Look at that.
What is that? "Early 19th century estate-made cupboard originally used as a doll's house.
Would make a perfect floor-standing or wall-hanging cupboard."
Stephen, tell me about this.
So it came from... I bought it from a friend of mine who found it.
He's in the trade, and it came from a big manor house.
Where?Somerset Way.
It's just the most wonderful thing.
If you look in the OED under "charming",
you'll see this cupboard, cos it just is.
And then Stephen says that's actually come
from a big country house down the road.
That's what I wanna hear, cos it's definitely English.
I think it's very early 19th century English.
I think it's about 1810 to 1820.
I think it's just the most wonderful thing.
What are you asking for it? 800 quid?Yeah.Yeah.
Can I give you a cheeky bid on it? It's a bit cheeky.
You can give me, whether I say yes or no -Yeah.
I'll stay over here. Yeah, that's right, yeah.(LAUGHS)
Erm, £500.
I couldn't.
Yeah, I can't, I'm afraid.
In Devon, and days away from opening a new shop,
Viki's with Drew seeing how a fellow dealer does it.
You walk in here and you're like, "I want to own this shop,
and I want to buy everything that's in it." That's a good shop.
And Drew's found an 18th-century estate-built cabinet
with provenance, once used as a doll's house.
£500?Yeah, I can't, I'm afraid.
£675 would be the best. So I think that might be -That's it?Yeah.
£675, I'll buy it. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.I love it.
Possibly handmade by the estate carpenter,
this painted pine cabinet comes from Hatch Court in nearby Somerset,
an 18th-century manor house built by a wealthy wool merchant.
Remnants of wallpaper in the interior
and the twin cottage-style pitched rooftop
suggests it may have been used as a doll's house.
With unique charm and a built-in story,
Drew thinks it could be worth around £875.
This is what you wanna find.
I'd have driven all the way here, bought that and drove home completely happy.
It's a wonderful thing. It's a piece of folk art.
It's a fabulous piece of furniture.
It's a glimpse into a forgotten time.
Its naivety, its beauty, its originality. It's just it.
Yeah.
My favourite, favourite place to be. Oh, God.
He's in his element now.Yes. Just the best bit, right?
The best bit, salvage yards, this.
You love it, eh? Love it. I love it so much.
I did get slightly overexcited going into the sort of salvage-y bit.
I just love architectural antiques. I absolutely love it.
It's been my first love. It will always be my greatest love
in the antiques business. Always has been, always will be.
These are good, aren't they? Yeah, I know.
I'm actually using curtain poles.
Stephen, what sort of money is in that one?
60 quid.Do you know what, could you do it for 50, and I'll take it?
I know it's only a tenner, but it's just gonna go up on a wall,
literally, when I get back.
Yeah, sure.Yeah?Yeah. Brilliant. Thank you.Thank you.
So right now, we've got some work going on in my new shop,
and rather than putting some doors up,
I thought, "Well, I'll put a couple of curtain rails up
and we'll just put some beautiful old curtains up instead."
Last bit of turning. Same as the other one.
£50?Yeah.
Yeah. You know what? I'll take that. Yeah?£50.Thank you.Brilliant.
But you think I could find some for the joiner?
For the last two weeks, I've not been able to get anything.
Walk in here, pile of them.
I was thinking, "Bingo, here we go."
We start gathering up our stuff...
Yeah...and sort of finish off in here, I think.
Today, spending time with Steve at his salvage yard
has just been great again.
As you can see from today, I'm walking around going, "Oh, love that, love that."
Not all dealers have that connection between them.
Steve and I definitely have that
so I will always watch what he's doing.
Favourite thing by a country mile, and, I mean, a country mile,
is the doll's house cabinet. It's a wonderful thing.
It's been great having Viki and Drew today.
Really nice to meet Viki and, yeah, we made a few sales today.
I'm happy with the prices, happy with the bits
that they bought, so yeah, very good.
Did you enjoy meeting Stephen
and going to Browns Architectural? I really did.
I was very pleased with what I bought.
The statue, I think, is particularly good.
The more you look at that statue, the better it gets. You noticed?
Yeah.You just look at it. It gets better and better.
The clock's ticking for Viki to head back to Edinburgh
for the big opening day.
But on their way north, there's one more stop,
to visit a couple who not long ago
set up their own highly unusual shop.
Well, today we're going to somewhere called Statement Furniture.Yeah.
And it's a couple, I believe, Lisa and Andy.
And it looks like a lot of mid-century,
drop of industrial,
you know, not that much traditional -Stuff.Yeah.
So I think we might be in for quite an interesting day
because we're both...
It's not our natural bedfellows. Well, certainly not for me.
Well, I've always bought across the board,
and then sometimes I'll get really into something
and just chase that for a few years till I get bored of that,
and then on to the next thing.
That's enough. You know, you don't have to be slavish to it.No.
During the 18th century, a canal was built
through the West Yorkshire town of Mirfield near Huddersfield,
linking it to the Great Yorkshire and Pennine Canals
and triggering prosperity generated by industries
such as textiles and boat building.
More recently, Mirfield has been the gathering place
of extraordinary objects and materials from far and wide,
a project which started as a rescue operation
by former advertising executive, Lisa Doel,
and her husband, Andy.
ANDY: We started, really, through my job as a joiner.
I do a lot of commercial work for colleges and schools.
I just saw how much stuff was getting wasted and thrown away.
And then that's when I started stockpiling
the salvage into containers.
LISA: We buy what we like, really. It's quite eclectic.
Everything from the 1900s up to 1990s.
So you've got antiques, mid-century, vintage.
Just put a collection together that looks good, really.
It's a buzz. It's a good buzz.
Finding stuff and people liking what you've bought.
Hiya.Hi.Hi.I'm Viki.
Andy.Hi, Andy.Hi, Andy. Drew. Hi, Drew.Hi, how are you?
Lisa. Nice to meet you. Hi, Lisa.Hi.
God, this is cool.That's superb.
That's really good.ANDY: Thank you.
It's mostly all 20th century,
but there's very strong design cues everywhere you look.
And the second, I mean, the second I walked through the door,
I thought I'm gonna enjoy myself today. This is great.
I love this. Where do you get that from?
LISA: So that was like out of a house.
For want of a better expression, it looks sort of grubby,
but it's not. That is the colour.No.
I think that's the colour. I described it as Egyptian, but I don't know if it is.
There's one thing I really love,
which is this wonderful rug or wall hanging.
It's not a mass-produced piece at all, far from it.
It's really got an integrity in the way it's been made.
Er, it's really nice.
I don't know, there's just something very wholesome about it.
What are you asking for that? Erm, that is £295.
What do you think? VIKI: I think it's a cool thing.
I'm not sure how much money is left in it.Hm.
Let's carry on looking around. There's still a lot of stuff to see. Yeah, there's loads.
There's a lot to take in. That's a lot to take in.
Are those Conran? DOELS: Yeah, Habitat.Yeah.Habitat.
I haven't seen some of those in years.
NARRATOR: Habitat was the 1964 invention of designer Terence Conran
who wanted to inject affordable, modern design
into Britain's outmoded post-war home furnishings.
Though never an elite item,
the European-influenced style of these sleek bentwood side tables
is these days recognised as groundbreaking.
Sold on Drew's website, the pair could fetch around £350.
What's it worth?£200.
There's lots of things I like here, so I need to have a bit more of a wander around.
What I like about these side tables is they put them together in a way
that they wanted them to last,
and they have an integrity at the heart of them.
They meant to make something good in the first place.
It wasn't just mass-produced.
It's such a great mix. It's making me happy. I really like it.
That's nice.It's just a great look.
Tell you what I was gonna ask about,
that we can see from here, is the...
..the wooden lady.Marianne.
We call her Marianne cos she's a marionette.
Is that what you call them? Yeah.
So she's from France. How much would she be?
Could be like £195, couldn't it?
Oh. (LAUGHS) Yeah, she dances as well, yeah.
Oh, crikey. (LAUGHS)
She's quite funny, actually, the way she moves.
Needs to be a wee bit cheaper, though.
One and a half.
£160. Should we do £160? Go on, then.
Go on, then.Thank you.Thank you.
Right away, my brain's internally sort of switching up,
going, "Right, she'll make great social media.
We'll be able to do fantastic reels, great content from her.
I can use her in the shop. We can dress her up."
Just for entertainment purposes alone, she's coming home with me.
There was another thing over here which I liked.
ANDY: Yeah.That.LISA: Oh, so this is by Trevor Rushton.
So he was a lecturer at Leeds College of Art.
Right.So he used to teach there.
So we bought his collection of art from his family.
So we got quite a big collection. Have you got any more of this?
There's just that little square one on the back there.
On the window. On the window. The red squares.
Says on the back here, "Yellow Square,
March '65, Trevor Rushton."Yeah.
What are you asking for them? Er -No price sticker on it.
It's got to be £350.
What do you think?£295.
Every now and again, I'll see something,
and I can't get to it fast enough.
Er, and it's this brilliant painting,
and it's just heavily applied oil on board.
And I'm just like, "What's that? I have to own it.
I want it. I need it. I've got to have it. I can't get to it fast enough.
Please don't let anybody buy it before me.
I really want to get my hands on that."
I pick it up and I just fall in love with this thing.
If I said it right, the wall hanging,
the pair of Conran tables, let's call them...
I'm no good at maths, yeah. He's good at maths.
..and that, what can you do?
£790, innit?£790.Yep.
How does £650 grab you? Take all three.
In Yorkshire, Drew's hoping to get the best price for three pieces,
including an artisan tapestry
and a striking original painting by a local artist.
How does £650 grab you? Take all three.
LISA: £680, do you think?Yeah, £680, can do it.Yeah, thank you.
Thank you, thank you very much. You've made me very happy.Good.
I really love it. I think it's absolutely wonderful.
Talk about a bloke who knows what he's doing.
That's cracking.
The wall hanging, I'm interested in,
the little pair of tables, and the painting, I've got to buy.
I thought we'll put three together, see if there's a slightly better price.
£680, I paid for all three.
You do the maths. You know, just over £200 each. That's good.
Just out of curiosity, while we're talking about art and paintings,
when we walked in the doors,
there's a big row - ANDY: The Nathan Bowen?
LISA: Oh, yeah, the hoardings. Yeah.
So they're the hoardings that they put around shops in London.
What sort of money is in them? How much are they each? £50 each on those.
DREW: So how many is there that you're interested in?
So one, two, three. So there's one, two, three.
I like that one, but it's a bit by itself.
Shall I get the ones out of the way, what you don't like?
No, wait, this one. You like that one?Yeah.
That one. And that one, and that one.
Are they actual graffiti or prints?
Graffiti.They are actual graffiti, aren't they? Yeah.Yeah.
I think the street art is a smart buy for Viki.
She's in a very cosmopolitan city. It's very artistic.
You know, there's some incredible artists, musicians,
and poets, and writers have come out of that city.
One thing they do have is very tall ceilings and a lot of those old buildings as well.
What do you need? Wall art.
Nothing better than inexpensive, cool wall art.
Painted on hoardings used for a shop renovation,
this dynamic graffiti art is by up-and-coming
London-based street artist, Nathan Bowen,
known for targeting what he sees as dull,
lifeless urban spaces as a canvas.
Viki thinks a set of 11 panels like this one
could be worth around £1,200.
DREW: Take a chance and buy the lot.
So it was, like, 11, innit, there?
So there's £550 in them. 50 quid a piece.Mm-hm.
Four?50.
£450, then. Gone up 50 quid.£450. Yeah.Done. Perfect. Thank you.
It's perfect. Exactly what I want.
I want something that works for socials,
something that looks fantastic.
It will be amazing in my shop.
Possibly, I bought a little bit too much,
but I felt the best deal was to be had if I had it all.
Erm, can we sort out some money? DOELS: Yep.Brilliant. Thank you.
Spending time with Lisa and Andy has been A real joy.
I like them. They're lovely people, passionate about what they do.
They've got a cracking showroom. They're all in.
They've been doing it long enough that they're never gonna go and do anything else, er, and they're good.
I think Drew and I's buys today
are a real testament
to the really cool, unique eye
that Andy and Lisa have got here,
and it's just been fantastic.
So did you enjoy yourself today? Yes.Lovely people.
Amazing.Lovely people.
That little painting I bought... Yeah...I absolutely love it.
You love it, eh?Love it. Well, I actually quite like this.
What?You actually, like, just getting
slightly giddy and excited about something.
I know, at my age, as well. I have to be careful.
You know what I mean.Could be the last thing I get excited about.
NARRATOR: It's the big day at Viki's shop,
the culmination of months of tough building work
to convert an ex-butcher's warehouse into a state-of-the-art showroom.
Although 50% of Viki's sales are online through social media,
her shop is the heart of her business.
And drafted in for the all-important launch,
there's some last-minute training needed
for her aspiring shop assistant.
So how do you do it? You just click on art.Yeah.
Then however much it is, so if it's £65, then you go 'add'.Yeah.
Then you go...Card payment. ..card payment.
Today is Saturday, opening day.
I've been here for a couple of days sort of just lifting and shifting,
"Where do you want this? Where do you want that?"
We've had loads of fun. It's been brilliant.
And today, 12 o'clock, it opens.
When I first saw it, it was completely empty.
No lights, rubbish on the floors, not painted, a bit of a state.
But it's joyous here. It's joyous.
You can buy things that will make your house
and your life and your daily living space better.
Can you do this one at 45 quid?
Yeah. £45. There you go.
This is the first time that we're inviting customers into the shop.
And I'm excited. I'm a bit scared. Er, I'm a bit nervous.
You know, it's been a long time coming.
It's taken me quite a long time to get the shop to this situation.
But we've got there. We're ready. We're in Edinburgh.
We're in 2,200sqft
of an old butchery, which I've turned into an antique shop.
Come on. There you go, guys.
Are you kidding me on? Bloody hell.
Oh, my God. (LAUGHS)
I don't really know. I've not done this before, but thank you for coming.
We've not got a red ribbon. We've got a bit of string.
But, anyway...here we go.
(ALL CHEERING)(LAUGHS)
There's about 50 people.
(CORK POPS) Would you like one? Yes, yes, yes.
Shop's open. I cannot believe it. Look at the place.
It's absolutely mobbed.
I cannot believe it. It's unbelievable.
I just, I might cry,
but anyway, I've got to get back to work.
So if you take that to the desk, I'll put 'sold' on it here,
and then we'll know what's what. WOMAN 1: Perfect.OK. Brilliant.
First sale done. (LAUGHS)
WOMAN 2: I've come here today cos I live locally, up the road.
It's the most exciting shop to open in the area for quite a while.
Erm, I've been following on social media,
erm, and I just love the vibe. Love everything.
You're gonna sell out of everything today. (LAUGHS)
Has it been like this since 12 o'clock?Yeah.
Believe it or not... Had a queue?..we had a queue of about 30 people.Wow.
Word has definitely spread.
I don't know how many of these are her existing customers
or whether it's new customer or...
Anyway, it's obviously a big hit. I think she's gonna sell out of stock.
First hour, unbelievable. I think there must have been...
..200, 250 people through in the first hour.
Incredible. There's a queue of people waiting to buy,
and stuff leaving constantly. It really couldn't be better.
We have been following the story of this shop
on Instagram for a long time,
and we went to the old shop as well and used to go and explore and try and find bargains,
and we were here in the queue first thing.
The layout is fantastic. I love the big space. I like the darkness.
Every corner, there's more things to find. I love it.
What do you think? Unbelievable.(LAUGHS)
We've worked out... We had, you won't believe this,
but over 500 people through the door.
Are you kidding?No.
Got through 29 bottles of champagne.
You've done so well. (LAUGHS)It's amazing.
Seriously, I'm blown away. I haven't moved from there all day.
I mean, incredible.
What a day. Thank you for being the barman all day.(BOTH LAUGH)
It's staggering, and it's all credit to Viki.
You can't underestimate just how good she is at what she does.
When you see that many people walking out with things,
and they were keen, they weren't here two minutes,
they were here, some people, an hour.
I couldn't have asked for it. Honestly, it's turned out, like,
ten times better than what I could have imagined.
And I actually put so much love and thought
into buying every single piece for here.
So when you put it all together as a collection
and then you open the doors,
you're never quite sure how it's taken.
And the best way to know how people like it
is whether or not the stuff that you bought
and you put on the back of your van walks out of the shop door.
And it did today in droves.
And it's just gonna build and build and build
and get better and better and better.
And, yeah, I'm absolutely flying. I cannot bel...
Honestly, I cannot tell you how excited I am.
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