It’s one of Huddersfield’s quirkiest businesses and now brings people into the town from far and wide.
The Antiques Warehouse in Slaithwaite has achieved legendary status for the incredible amount of antiques and collectibles it has, now running into hundreds of thousands of items.
And it’s bucking the trend of businesses struggling to survive in an era where internet shopping is forcing many independent shops to close.
People make a big effort to visit The Antiques Warehouse, travelling from North and South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and the Lancashire coast.
As there is so much to see in the shop the internet couldn’t possibly even start to do it justice. Some think it’s more like a museum than a shop but, unlike a museum, everything’s for sale and theatre companies even pop in looking for props.
Owner David Hirst has built up a phenomenal knowledge of antiques over the last 40 years, learning the trade the hard way with market stalls before finally opening this emporium in his home village of Slaithwaite.
The 59-year-old was born and grew up in the village, going to Two Gates School and then Colne Valley High and Sixth Form. His 93-year-old mum, Jean, still lives in Slaithwaite.
For David, owning a shop like this is a way of life rather than a job.
“I’m here seven days a week,” he said. “I have to say I still love it, meeting and talking to people and many keep coming back. After all, it takes days to properly look at everything I have in here now there’s so much stuff.”
After leaving school David did a City and Guilds in horticulture and worked for Kirklees Council, gardening in Greenhead Park, Beaumont Park, Marsden Park and Slaithwaite Cemetery.
“Standards were impeccable in those days,” he said. “The bedding plants had to be in a dead straight line. If it was even slightly out they all had to be replanted.”
But David, who also had a spell running a fish and chip shop in Meltham, has always loved antiques and began with trade fairs before he had a stall on Huddersfield Open Market for 25 years and also traded at markets in Todmorden and Oldham.
David has been chairman of both Huddersfield and Slaithwaite Conservative Associations and was lucky to survive the IRA bomb attack on the Grand Hotel in Brighton in October 1984 which killed five people and left more than 30 injured.
He had gone to the Conservative Party conference and was having a drink in the hotel bar when the bomb exploded in the middle of the night.
“I was thrown out of my chair by the force of the explosion,” he said. “The entire front of the hotel had collapsed so we had to escape through the cellars. We’d met Norman Tebbit who was Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and his wife, Margaret, the day before and the explosion left her paralysed. It was so sad.”
David has worked in antiques alongside friend David Jennings for more than 30 years and both are now at The Antiques Warehouse, along with merchandiser Ruth Ellen-Brown, sales assistant and display specialist Pat Greenwood and Rick Southwood who upcycles old furniture. Volunteers are also involved in the business.
The Antiques Warehouse opened in 2017 and many people fondly remember Denis Lowrey, a 74-year-old gent who loved working there and sadly lost his life in a house fire on nearby Manchester Road, Slaithwaite, in March 2023.
David has seen the business grow, especially as Slaithwaite has become busier with an ever growing reputation as one of the best places to live and visit in West Yorkshire.
He also stages special afternoon and evening events which turn the shop into a social hub, ranging from celebrating Royal occasions and commemorating D-Day to holding Halloween and Christmas events.
The shop is having a Christmas afternoon tea on Monday, December 9, from 1.30pm to 4pm and Christmas drinks and fayre on Tuesday, December 19 from 1.30pm to 4pm and again from 6pm to 9pm.
David said: “It’s always good to think differently running an independent business and very important to engage with customers so they feel part of something. They love the social events.”
The shop sells anything you can think of from the past, ranging from pictures and furniture to jewellery, glassware, books and magazines.
Quirky items there now include a set of old wooden skis, a roulette table and a magnificent drinks cabinet.
David added: “Furniture from the 1950s and 60s is now back in fashion and we’ve also noticed that people like to make old safes into cocktail cabinets. It’s amazing what can be upcycled with a bit of imagination.”
For more information go to https://www.antiqueswarehouseslaithwaite.co.uk/home
Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content, copywriting and ghost-writing autobiographies.
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