Man with a Van: My Story

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And the skill in recognising those things is, he says, down to having good taste and a good eye. The former, he says you can’t teach, the latter can be honed with practice. In this engaging and informative narrative, clearly structured into practical themes, Drew reveals what it takes to start with nothing but an obsession and a dream. He shows you how to create the opportunities, establish a network, get the best out of auctions and fairs, spot the fakes, develop your eye, build a reputation, buy and sell and yes, make a profit. So in the 18 th century you have people like Robert Adams and Chippendale championing it [neo-classical) and creating the finest furniture from the finest woods; we owned large parts of the world where these beautiful woods came from so we imported it.” A star on hit shows Salvage Hunters and Salvage Hunters: The Restorers says he is being forced to consider his future as costs spiral. Expert upholsterer Craig Hughes, from Colwyn Bay, has been a regular alongside Conwy antiques dealer Drew Pritchard on Salvage Hunters and a presenter on the spin off show. It’s so quiet here,” he said when placing it up for sale. “When I first moved I freaked out because of this strange noise which turned out to be the cows munching grass.

In it I share my story for the very first time on how I’ve managed to turn my passion into a successful and highly rewarding business of finding and restoring antiques. It’s a world with its own language, although Pritchard says daytime antiques shows have ruined it and watered it down.And yet, when Pritchard started out, antiques was a closed shop. “It was like the Mafia.” It’s not quite the same today, but with his advice he hopes he can get anyone through the door and give them a start. “The rest is down to what you make of it. That’s what I love about it.”

Everything else goes out the window,” says Pritchard, who has one grown-up son who tends to avoid the limelight, before swiftly adding: “Children come first – and then antiques.”

I’d love to be right on about this and PC but no it’s not ok because you have vandalised your environment and put something tasteless and cheap and nasty into it, and even it wasn’t that way you’ve made it that way and you’re not learning from it and it will go out of this small phase and still be something worthless so you have wasted your money [when you could have gone out and bought] something beautiful. When I see something old, that I think is beautiful, special, valuable, it's not about the money. It's about being in another time and place.' And so Pritchard is searching for the next “it” item. “I’ve been around a while. I’ve done a lot of stuff and seen a lot of things. Everything used to be really cool for a while. But everything that’s cool becomes passé. And that’s where I’m at. So I’m just working harder at what I’m doing and being honest with myself.”