Man with a Van: My Story

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And yet, when Pritchard started out, antiques was a closed shop. “It was like the Mafia.” It’s not quite the same today, but with his advice he hopes he can get anyone through the door and give them a start. “The rest is down to what you make of it. That’s what I love about it.” The Edwardian to the late 1940s was not a great period for the majority of furniture and that is what was became known as brown furniture, but, what happened was that everything that was old and brown was tarred with the same brush including 18 th and 19 th century English furniture – finest on the planet that has ever been. Speaking to the Telegraph Drew said: "I’ve had a blip in the middle where everything just got too much for me, which I’m over now and working on. I’ve started again from scratch. I’ve completely binned my old life and started afresh." The former Ysgol Dyffryn Conwy pupil has been an independent antiques dealer since 1993, having trained initially as a stained glass restorer and designer.

There’s still stuff being lost. “Every minute of every day something is going to the landfill that shouldn’t be. It’s not the people’s fault, it’s just society and education.” I’ve had a blip in the middle where everything just got too much for me, which I’m over now and working on. I’ve started again from scratch. Rebuilding myself again.”

Retailers:

The main thing is that I want people to be enthused. They might be terrified for half of it but then they might suddenly go, ‘You know what? I could do that.’ I want people to have a go. The only time to start is now. Right now.” First airing on UK TV in 2010, I happened upon 'Salvage Hunters' by complete chance whilst channel hopping and have been a huge fan ever since.

Drew told Quest: “I was just utterly fascinated with it and it’s never left me. It’s not something I can explain why, I just had to be around this old stuff all the time."

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Which Pritchard is. The boy who left school at 16, with no qualifications, has built a respected business as an international dealer in fine antiques, art and furniture: “How the hell did that happen?” Pritchard asks, somewhat disingenuously.