The Cambrian House Emporium in Oswestry.
Churches and chapels, schools, pumping stations, banks, mills of every stripe, railway stations, malthouses, foundries and even a redundant magistrates’ court have been redefined as antiques shopping outlets as unique as the stock they offer.
Many of these centres have already featured on these pages but here are two that haven’t. One is in Shropshire, the other in Northamptonshire.
Railway town
The Cambrian House Emporium in the Shropshire town of Oswestry is a large Grade II-listed building which houses 46 dealers selling a big variety of antiques and vintage pieces.
The centre is in one of the Victorian locomotive works’ buildings built by the Cambrian Railways to hasten Oswestry’s boom as a railway town.
The centre is owned by Alison and Darrell Kerr, who have a Christmas fair planned at the emporium on Saturday, December 16, with all proceeds going to the Hope House Children’s Hospice organisation.
Instagram: @cambrianhouseemporium
Far away from Boney
The Depot in Weedon, Northamptonshire, where 50 dealers are based at Vintique Limited.
The Royal Ordnance Depot at Weedon in Northamptonshire dates to the early 1800s and was purposefully situated in the centre of England to be furthest away from coastal invasion by Napoleon’s armies.
Two centuries later, the former barracks and military storage base has a more peaceful purpose as a business hub. In one of the Grade-II listed buildings at The Depot as it is now known sits Vintique Limited, a spacious and characterful antiques centre with 50 dealers.
