Barnard Castle Independents - David Harper Antiques (From Living Northeast)

Barnard Castle Independents - David Harper Antiques

2:10pm Monday 16th August 2010 in

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ANOTHER trader who is benefiting from the general move away from the throwaway society is David Harper, who opened his antiques outlet in the spring.

David is a familiar face on antiques programmes on television with Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip (which also gives David the chance to indulge his love of classic cars), and Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is to his credit. But it was the intermittent nature of filming that led him back into selling.

“Filming goes very quiet in winter, so I thought why don’t I fill in the gaps doing what I really love and that’s selling antiques,” he says.

Breaks while he was filming around the country were the perfect opportunity for picking up stock, but David had nowhere to sell his wares. He now rents a space adjacent to another of the town’s many antique dealers. “I honestly believe this is one of the best locations in the country for antiques,” says David.

He also believes now is the time to pick them up. “Antiques have never been cheaper,” he says.

“We’re just coming out of the doldrums and prices will catch up, but there are lots of great deals at the moment.”

He points to an elegant Georgian tea table as an example of the “brown furniture” which is now coming back into fashion after a decade of minimalism and cheap, modern alternatives. “I work with interior designers and they say antiques are definitely back. They’ve got colour and glamour and history.

You can pick up a piece of solid, well-made furniture from the early 20th Century really cheaply and paint it or customise it. It’s more environmentally friendly to revamp too.”

David is optimistic that things are looking up for the town. “So many shops have been filled in such a short time,” he says. “And people are starting to buy again.”

■10 The Bank. Tel: 01833-631500