ASTRA ANTIQUES CENTRE – 10 YEARS ON

Just over 10 years ago, Barry Aucott took over the Astra Antiques Centre. Which means the Astra that you all know and love, is now 10 years old.

So in light of the occasion, the manager himself has a few words to say on his start in the Trade, his passion for the business, and his look back on the last 10 years.

Our 10 Years at Astra Antiques Centre.

“My love of Antiques started as a child, I grew up in Leicester and close to where I lived was this old tip. To most it was a dumping ground, a way to get rid of that tat which cluttered up their homes. But kids being kids and boys being boys, I used to go down there and mess around with my friends. We would find old bottles and items people just dumped, either because it was old or just old fashioned. I enjoyed messing around and tinkering with some of these items or making something different with them, turning old prams into Go-Karts, fully kitted out dens / War Rooms to plot World-Domination, or at least that of the local area.

One of my first memories of dealing was when I was around 8 or 9 years old, I came across a Desk Blotter, with a carved Bear handle. My Mum took me into town that Saturday as it was market day and I remember selling the Desk Blotter to a dealer for around £6.50. Thus sparked my initial interest and passion to what would become my career. Despite a few deviations here and there, and falling in and out of love with the trade, my passion has always remained intact. To me, there is no better fix than finding that beautiful and unusual object.

I’ve been around and had dealings with Astra Antiques since 1998, and then owner Mick Frith. As luck would have it, in 2004 Mick decided to call it a day and sell the Centre, and so I packed up in the Building Trade and took on a whole different kind of venture. Literally overnight I went from being a part-time dealer, to a full Antiques Centre owner.

I had a vision, and a drive to achieve, wanting to take Astra Antiques, a Centre within the Hemswell Hub and make it one of the best Centres in the UK. Everything from pushing the advertising, expanding the business, being one of the first to go online in 2005 and have its own website to just sorting out the building itself. Re-painting and tidying from the floor to the ceiling and re-branding Astra by updating and modernising the business.

My background in the building trade obviously played a huge roll with the Centre too, our beautiful Decodence café was imagined, designed and built by myself. Our café is now a proud and popular attraction, growing by itself almost separately to our Antique’s trade.

Since I took over Astra in July of 2004, things have been a little bit different in how I view the trade. Sure that passion is still there, but it is increasingly harder to muster 10 years on. Astra has grown so much that the Business side takes over almost every minute of every day. I am constantly thinking of how to solve problems, how to expand, how to bring in new ideas, how do we take Antiques and present them in a new light in this digital age. This thinking and the general running of the business takes me out of the actual dealings of the Antiques trade and to an extent, drains the fun and enjoyment out of it.

However Astra is blessed to have some great customers, tenants and staff that help to get us through those bad times. Not losing that passion, and continuously pushing for that growth, is my dedication, and I hope that my enthusiasm and passion rubs off and makes their day better.

To mark the 10 year Anniversary, Astra Antiques is expanding. We have a brand new website, this very blog, and a large extension underway. The extension is the main one, not to just expand on our size and items, but to include a new Teaching facility, running courses in all the different aspects of Restoration and Conservation for Antiques.

In whatever way you view Antiques, old items, collectables, history, they have consumed my life from my passion to my business. Astra Antiques embodies my love for them, and has given me the gift to take that passion, and turn it into my gateway to meet new people, have a different outlook on life and a career I always wanted.

As somebody once said “Antiques are the silent witness to our History”, to me, Astra Antiques is the voice to my own.

A Big thank you to all for making it a really good 10 years.