It was just 18 months ago that he moved from Aberystwyth to open a shop in Woodstock, Oxfordshire. Now he has moved on again, but this time not very far.
John has bought one of the oldest operating antiques centres in the country, formerly known as Span Antiques, in Market Place, Woodstock. He has renamed the centre Heritage and moved his own business into the relaunched enterprise (Tel: 0870 444 0678).
The exisiting dealers at the centre have been joined not only by John but also by two other well-known names from the ceramics scene, MVS with Wedgwood and Gillian Neale with blue and white.
John says: “I was aware that some dealers had been operating from the gallery for a long time, some for more than 25 years, and that business with the trade and regular customers was well established. Any changes would need to build on this base.”
He feels the three new additions to the centre have added an extra dimension to the range of stock, but is determined to further enhance standards at Heritage.
To this end, he has introduced a 1940 dateline and, drawing on his considerable fairs experience, will run the centre “closely to the vetting rules of the NEC fairs and June Olympia.”
Howard sets NEC standards at centre
BRITISH pottery specialist John Howard, whose particular enthusiasm is Staffordshire, is a familiar figure at quality fairs and when I caught up with him last week on his stand at Olympia he told me that there had been some changes on the home front.
