A small town with a long history
Leominster is a market town, midway between Hereford and Ludlow, about 8 miles from the Welsh border. If you’re not familiar with the town, it’s one of those British place names designed to confuse visitors: it is pronounced ‘Lemster’. I have no idea why, it just is!
Leominster is one of a chain of market towns running down English side of the Welsh border. It has a long and varied history during which its importance has waxed and waned several times. From the Viking through to the medieval eras the whole region was fought over, the legacy of which can be seen today by the number of castles, in various states of decay.
In the middle ages, money poured into the town as it became a centre of the wool trade. Adding to this wealth, as the industrial revolution dawned, Leominster was the site of one of the first cotton spinning factories. The money that the wool and cotton industries bequeathed to the town has left a number of really grand looking buildings. Sadly though, like the castles before them, that grandeur is currently rather faded and the town can have a rather care worn feel to it, expecially on a wet day.
A Mecca for antiques enthusiasts
All is not lost though. For anyone interested in antiques, Leominster is one of the more interesting places in England to visit. Google lists about twenty antiques businesses in and around the town. These range from fairly small, single owner shops to several larger premises that have multiple dealers operating from them.
There are so many antiques shops in Leominster that I wouldn’t ever attempt to visit them all in one visit. It’s an ever changing scene as well. Over the years I’ve been visiting there has been a regular change in the shops, so before a visit it’s always worth having a look to see which new shops have opened, and which have closed. It’s also heartening that there doesn’t seem to be a drop in the number of antiques shops or indeed based on my most recent visit any drop in variety or quality.
There also looks to be a bit of coopertative advertising as there is usually a leaflet to be had promoting all the antiques shops in the town.
Finding The Secondhand Warehouse
Regardless of the coming and going of other antiques shops, I couldn’t imagine visiting Leominster without visiting The Secondhand Warehouse. This was one of the first antiques shop that really wowed me and it remains one of my favourite antiques shops anywhere.
Despite being large and very centrally placed, The Secondhand Warehouse is not actually very obvious. The front entrance to the shop is off New Street, the rather busy A44 which acts as a bypass to the town centre. As a casual visitor you’re unlikely to walk past the front door as most of the interest in the town is off Broad Street and around Corn Square.
I usually enter through what’s termed the Side Entrance which is accessed by passing through an archway off Broad Street and then going across a small car park. Don’t be put off by either approach. As you enter the shop you’re greeted by some of the most welcoming looking antiques shops I know of. The best comparison I can make is that the shop has the look of a well curated local museum, the only difference being that everything is for sale.
Getting your bearings and getting happily lost
It’s worth taking a few seconds to take in the views after you set foot through the door, not least to get your bearings before setting off to explore. This is a large shop whose dealers know how to display their goods, so take your time and be prepared to be distracted and hopefully very engaged. Because the shop has multiple dealers every item is labelled and priced. There seems to be a positive effort here to add a little description for each item as well, so it’s a fantastic place to learn about antiques.
The ground floor has several areas to it and this is where the majority of the cabinets are located. This is common in antiques shops as it makes it more practical for asking for cabinets to be opened. The staff have less distance to go and potential customers are more likely to ask for a cabinet to be opened if it’s only a short walk to the desk. As you’d hope, the cabinets are well lit and (mostly!) dust free.
If you have a specific area of interest you’ll probably find at least one dealer who has stock of engage you. If you’ve read some of my other posts, you’ll know of my interest in Doulton stoneware. I was delighted on my most recent visit to find two cabinets containing some lovely examples. It’s not unusual to walk around similarly sized antiques shops and see none at all, or indeed very much of anything of a similar quality.
The rest of the ground floor is taken up with areas managed by dealers of furniture. There’s a definite feel of country furniture to much of what’s on display; very appropriate given the location of the town. This doesn’t mean it’s all rustic kitchen tables and pine Welsh dressers (although if you’re interested there are some good examples!), large and beautifully made living and dining room furniture is well represented too.
Upstairs is more of a mixture of goods, where dealers operate from either rooms or quite large open areas. There’s quite a bit for the retro/vintage collector as well as antiques here too. Because the shop is a made up of at least two older buildings there are two parts to the upstairs and you’ll want to visit both. I noticed a couple of upstairs areas have been refurbished and redecorated since my last visit. This is always a pleasing to see. Walking into a dusty sales area filled with stock that looks like it’s been there for years is can be a very disheartening experience.
As you’ll have gathered by now, unlike a number of the other multi-dealer antiques shops in Leominster, The Secondhand Warehouse aims at the better end of the popular antiques market. It would be easy to spend many thousands of pounds here and still be able to fit your purchases into your car for the drive home. This doesn’t mean it’s expensive though. Far from it. Expect to pay a sensible amount for the goods. There aren’t a whole lot of bargains but you won’t be overcharged either. You also should take comfort from the obvious professionalism of the staff and the dealers.
A bit of a television star
Regular viewers of the ever popular television program Bargain Hunt will already be familiar with the shop. At the time of writing, the program has visited Leominster seven times. In the early programs I think other shops in the town were also included but in recent series the teams only seem to visit The Antiques Warehouse. If you’re inspired by seeing the shop on Bargain Hunt, just remember that Bargain Hunt is television, not the real world, so don’t expect to get the sort of discounts the teams get. I’ve watched a couple of very disappointed prospective customers at the till!
Creature comforts and the best times to visit
As with all antiques shops, margins are very tight and heating is expensive, so if you visit in winter I’d advise wrapping up warm. My ability to enjoy antiques is greatly diminished when I can no longer feel my feet. However, on a wet day in winter or summer there aren’t many things I’d rather be doing. As with all antiques shops, if you plan on spending a lot of money doing so on a freezing cold mid-week morning in January you’ll make yourself very popular!
If you’re driving to Leominster, there are several car parks but we usually use the one on Broad Street at the north end of the town. It’s cheap and there’s always loads of space. If you prefer the train, you get to use the wonderfully picturesque Welsh Marches Line.
One change from my last visit is that the The Secondhand Warehouse seems to be closed on Sundays now. This is a bit of a shame as I generally visit on Sundays, although few of the other antiques shops in the town were open.
Disclaimer
I have briefly met and spoken to the manager of The Secondhand Warehouse but that was regarding the Ludlow Antiques Fair, which she also runs. However, as with everything else I write on this blog, I am not in any way associated with The Secondhand Warehouse. Any questions regarding the shop should be made directly to them. Contact details are on their website: thesecondhandwarehouseleominster.co.uk
