On the upper floor of the two-storey premises, the Carrigans have created a gallery from where they will deal in paintings of the Newlyn and St. Ives Schools. At street level they have installed 26 smart cabinets to be let to dealers on a monthly rental, and already some 14 have gone.
Apparently Lostwithiel is being promoted as the antiques capital of Cornwall. Phil Carrigan tells me there are some 24 working antiques dealers in the town and the new centre should considerably up that quota. Some entertainment is planned, just in case there is ever a lull in business. Phil, who spent 30 years in the Royal Marines Band and plays the cornet and piano, said: “I am going to install a baby grand and will pass the time playing it when we have no customers – it beats twiddling your thumbs.”
He is also hoping to encourage musicians to give daily recitals in the centre. Anyone interested should contact him at Uzella Court, 2 Fore Street, Lostwithiel, Tel: 01208 872255.
“So far, I have a violinist, harpist, flautist, baroque bassoonist and a penny whistle player,” said the owner of the county’s newest centre. If Uzella Court does not thrive as an antiques business I am sure it has a future as a music academy.
Cornish confidence
LAST week, after two years of renovations, Judith and Phil Carrigan officially opened their Uzella Court Antiques Centre and Fine Art in the centre of Lostwithiel, Cornwall. The centre is housed in a partly medieval building which has been a shop of one sort or another – most recently a butcher’s – since 1850.
