PRESS

Join the campaign to support the antiques industry.

With increasing numbers of antiques shops being forced to close due to high rent and business rate increases, Roadshow expert Henry Sandon and Iain Brunt of antiques.co.uk are spearheading a campaign for the UK government to provide ore support for the antiques industry.

It's easy to assume that once a piece of furniture is broken, that's it; but 99% of all furniture can be repaired.

We have become a disposable nation; rather than the 'make do and mend' generations that have come before, today, barely used pieces of furniture are exchanged for cheap replacements. Yet these 'cheap' alternatives are rarely good value in the long-run as they often last little longer than their predecessors.

When Rachel Barnett bought a battered old bureau from Jackie Pudding's junk shop in Greetland, near Halifax, in the early 1920s, she wasn't aware she was recycling.

The word wasn't even invented until 1926 and even then it was technical terminology used in the oil refining industry.

Antiques.co.uk is calling for antiques and fine arts dealers to speak out about the £2 billion loss suffered by the trade in 2008 and the government's lack of support during this recession. Iain Brunt, the site's creator, is asking for dealers to make a stand and sign a petition urging the government to equip this often overlooked industry with the tools to restore it to its former glory.

THE campaign to persuade the government to extend business support to the antiques industry has set out in detail exactly what it wants to achieve.

Henry Sandon and Iain Brunt have drawn up the following seven-point manifesto of steps Whitehall could take to revive the industry’s fortunes:

The huge cost of of business rates is something that has been plaguing our members and contributing to shop closures for a number of years. It is of course a problem that is not unique to the antiques industry but affects all small businesses, resulting in the disappearance of many individual small shops and the 'cloning of the high street'. It has generally been our opinion that the problem would be best tackled together with the Federation of Small Businesses, however we give our wholehearted support to Henry Sandon and Michael Brunt's valiant initiative.

SIR - I was most interested to read about the growing support for the petition to attract more government support for the art and antiques industry and also to note the strength of feeling among those who left comments on the website.

Henry Sandon, one of the best-known figures in the British antiques world has called on the UK government to provide more support for the antiques and fine art industry.
Mr Sandon, who is spearheading a campaign with internet-based business www.antiques.co.uk, states that while the art and antiques industry contributes trade worth billions to the nation's economy, it has missed out on government assistance that is handed out to other sectors.

THE petition to persuade the Government to ease business rates in support of the art and antiques industry is gathering momentum.

ATG reported the launch of the petition on the front page of issue 1886, as Henry Sandon, one of the best known figures in the British antiques world, joined forces with Iain Brunt, editor of antiques.co.uk, to call for more support for the industry.

Following the letter sent to the Editor of The Times - reprinted below, members of the trade are being asked to sign the petition on Antiques.co.uk or via the link on About Us

The petition has received tremendous support to date at 27 May 2009, with more than three hundred signatures and comments posted from a wide selection of UK and international trade. Sarah Percy Davis, Chief Executive of LAPADA posted the following comment: "Congratulations on this impressive initiative. Business rates are crippling for many of our members and contributing to shop closures and the cloning of the high street. We give this campaign our full support!"