The high street is clearly under pressure. Once vibrant towns are partly boarded up and those shops remaining are struggling.

Even in wealthy market towns it’s all coffee shops whilst famous brands have all but vanished. It’s not just rents it’s that people haven’t got the disposable income they had in years gone by.

So much has changed as businesses have had to repay bounce-back loans relating to Covid closure losses from almost four years ago in an economy that hasn’t rebounded.

As fuel costs and delivery costs are crippling ordinary people, there’s a worrying lack of disposable income which means many struggle to make ends meet let alone have anything left to spend on luxuries.

Salisbury Journal: Andrew Blackall says we should support our local high street

So where is the antique trade in all this? From the outside it’s easy to think running an antique business is buying pretty things at auction, putting them in a shop window, wearing a tweed cap in a few Instagram photos and then uploading some nice photos to your website which a load of rich people swoon over whilst hoovering up your stock.

No. It’s about knowledge and taking a chance, cutting your cloth to where you are and what sells. It means taking a long hard look in the mirror every day. It means taking a loss to turn stock over to make a profit on the next thing you buy.

And anyone who belittles a small profit doesn’t get business. I’d rather sell a few smalls at £15 a pop than take nothing and believe me, it all adds up!

A friend in business in north west London explained it was as though someone had just turned off the tap.

Whether it’s upcycling or shabby chic French brocante, 1960s or Victoriana, folk art, Baroque or junk, it’s in our bones this selling antiques malarkey.

I took some recycling to the tip the other day and saw a smashed pair of Victorian pot stands at the bottom of the skip. The breaks suggested they had been perfect moments earlier when someone threw them in with disinterest. If only the owners had known they would have retailed for around £700 the pair and sold! Think about what you’re throwing out!

One person’s rubbish is another’s treasure and so it will always be.

So what’s the answer and what sort of High Street do you want? What sort of collectives and antique centres do you want to visit? Surely it’s in everyone’s interest to have a vibrant and engaging High Street and a landscape of successful independent businesses. They support a huge ancillary of trades too and to many they are social lifeline.

You can’t live your life online. Antiques are a resource. Antiques are environmentally friendly in the most part and frankly they warm my heart.

Antiques have never been so affordable! Support your local antique dealer and High Street!