“I sold a 10ft polar bear, I sold a Rolls Royce once”
Liverpool Antique Centre owner Steve Swainbank
Facing out onto a busy road, the grey, warehouse-like exterior of the Liverpool Antique Centre hides a grotto of living memories of days gone by. Angelic statues, dummy skeletons, model ships, church pews, taxidermy fox heads, world war weaponry and vintage ads fill every nook and cranny at the often-overlooked gem on Great Howard Street.
Large oak furniture, glass displays, rails of old clothing and even a couple of carousel horses form the walls of the indoor maze, accessible only through a small back door off Cotton Street.
The centre was set up by Steve Swainbank, 61, seven and a half years ago. After a lifetime of trading in the antiques business, travelling from auction to auction, he wanted a permanent place where dealers could hawk their wears to local customers looking for unique items not commonly found in high street stores.
He said: “I used to ship to the states and Japan. I’ve done this since I was 16. When that stopped and then I did the markets in Newark and Lincoln for a while, which was OK but a lot of hard work for someone on their own.
“You had to load the van, drive it down, unload it, sleep in the back of the van, all weathers. And sometimes you don’t sell anything, and you had to pack up and come all the way home empty-handed.
“I started looking around and when I came here I thought it was a lovely building for what I do. And I thought if it’s split between 16 or 20 of us traders, the way the business rates work, we’d be paying next to nothing for it.”
The Liverpool Antique Centre on Great Howard Street, Vauxhall
The antique centre is shared between around 15 traders, who each pay a rental fee for the space. However, rising business rates combined with a struggling antiques market has made turning a profit difficult in recent years.
Steve said: “You don’t know what people want any more. If you gave me £500 this morning, I wouldn’t know what to go out and buy because you don’t know what’s going to sell. Most of it has to be useable now, smaller because the houses are smaller.
“Big sideboards that used to be £650, in the auctions you see them now for £50. But they’re not worth picking up even for £50. The world has changed. How many people own houses now? How many flats are there in this city compared to how it used to be?
“Once you could buy anything and you’d sell it all. Absolutely anything. At the time there was four auctions in Liverpool, and you used to go and try and buy everything out of every auction.
“Solid oak always sold. I remember driving down the road, there were lots of second hand shops then, and if you saw a mirror-backed sideboard outside the shop you’d jam on the brakes and run out and buy it for £25. You’d find it hard to get £25 for that today, and that’s 45 years ago.”
The Liverpool Antique Centre on Great Howard Street, Vauxhall
It is no secret that the antiques industry is facing big challenges, as shoppers increasingly turn to online marketplaces like eBay and Vinted to snag their second-hand goods. Antique centres and shops can find it hard to compete with the convenience and low prices of these online, as dealers must pay for the upkeep of their premises as well as making enough to pay the bills.
Steve said these days, antique dealers stayed in the business purely for passion. But as he approaches retirement age, he says he is unsure about what the future holds for the Liverpool Antique Centre.
The Liverpool Antique Centre on Great Howard Street, Vauxhall
He said: “I don’t know what will happen. I’ll be 64, 65 in a few years, and I’ll think about it then. I just don’t know what I’d do with all the stuff I have here.
“I used to like selling the nice figures, statues and things like that. But they’ve gone out of fashion really. I sold a 10ft polar bear, I sold a Rolls Royce once. I sold a bison’s head last week that came from a Freemason’s club.
“If you’ve made money that week, it’s all right. I think it’s more of a hobby now than a living. It’s a shame. You don’t see many young people coming into the business. You wonder what the future of it is going to be.
“People come in and it’s like a museum for them. They come in and say ‘my mum used to have one of them’ – it’s a nostalgia trip. But then people know if they want something different, we’ve probably got it.”