Known locally as Bishy Road – with its own website (bishyroad.net) – this is now one of the city’s most familiar destinations, a run of independent shops and cafes often considered these days among Britain’s ‘hippest’.
Now, Robin and his wife Glynis, who own Bishopsgate Antiques and live in a house beside the shop, are selling up at the end of the month and moving to a village nearby.
Robin, now 74, who has a passion for Georgian furniture, bought the property 45 years ago and sells what he refers to as “exotic junk”.
Among his stand-out “exotic” sales down the years have been the helm of a nuclear submarine, a Second World War V-1 flying bomb and the engine from an 1897 De Dion-Bouton tricycle.
The engine, said Robin, “sold to a man wearing plus-fours who rode up on an identical motor tricycle”.
The dealer also has what he describes as another string to his bow. Over the past 20 years Robin has worked on a number of projects in Sweden including supplying antiques and vintage pieces for a bar close to Stockholm’s Stock Exchange. He said: “It’s called the Bull and Bear Inn and we supplied wall hangings, mirrors, tables, and art – it was a great success.”
Looking back over his many years at the shop in Bishy Road, Weatherill said: “It has been such a good place to trade. We have traded here with the world.”
