While online shopping has boomed during the pandemic, it does tend to be a rather soulless process. Britain’s antiques centres offer an alternative, one-of-a-kind experience – the antidote to online monotony. The big appeal of antiques centres is the incredible variety of stock, all under one roof. Found across the UK, in towns and cities large and small, on the high street as well as in former stations, mills, and even air bases. Most are gloriously eclectic – a cabinet of Egyptian antiquities might sit alongside a collection of vintage toy cars or antique silver.
The concept of the antiques centre is simple: individual dealers rent a cabinet or floor space, usually paying a fixed fee each month and a small commission on everything they sell. Some, like Alfies and Grays in London, operate more like department stores, where the dealers man their own pitches and interact with customers directly. But most antiques centres handle all the sales for the dealers. This means sellers can rent space in multiple locations, or trade antiques alongside a full-time job, visiting to tidy and refresh their inventory. ‘For dealers, it’s like having a
