Meet Chris Yeo, Clevedon Salerooms Valuer and Antiques Roadshow expert
I started working in Bristol 35 years ago on Whiteladies Road.
We moved to Somerset from Oxford when I was a baby, then I moved to Bristol around 25 years ago. Even though I grew up in the Mendips, I was always more into the city than I was the countryside. Bristol was the nearest place to experience that cosmopolitan life, but it doesn’t wear you out, I love the buzz here – and the city’s architecture.
My favourite historic building in Bristol is what was the Vandyck Press building on Park Row.
It’s now home to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection. It’s a really interesting proto-modernist building, which I just love – it’s really rugged and different. There’s also a wonderful collection of late Georgian buildings on Dowry Square in Hotwells, where I lived for eight years. You get a real sense of Bristol as a maritime city there.
People-watching and finding little places for reverie is one of my favourite hobbies.
I love going to the Clifton Lido, or to Riverstation restaurant on the Harbourside. It’s great there by the water when the sun is out.
When I leave the city for some peace and quiet, I go to my little retreat on the Somerset coast.
It’s a listed Victorian building right on the seafront, with bracing sea air and miles of sand. I wanted somewhere I could put all my books and have plenty of room to collect things. But I’ve been there just under a year and already the place is full.
My greatest weakness is books.
I love books. Books for reference, books for leafing through, new books, old books, second-hand books, antiquarian books. I have far, far too many books, but they all mean a lot to me.
Right from a young age, I was collecting the Reece Winston’s Bristol from Old Photographs books. They’re a wonderful record of how much the city’s changed over the years and how much we’ve lost. I can always get lost in those.
My favourite Bristolian is Ken Stradling.
He passed away a couple years ago aged 100. He taught me so much. He was my mentor and a living embodiment of everything I find fascinating about my job. To be able to work with and for Ken was such a pleasure, a privilege and an education.
Bristol’s history is constantly around me when I’m at the auctions.
We once had a couple of plates that were rescued from the Mansion House when it was looted and burned down during the Bristol riots in the 1830s, and it was great to see those. And we had a truncheon that dates from the time of the Bristol riots as well. Clevedon Salerooms’ July auction also has a collection of Bristol pictures, with many showing the city after the Blitz. A lot of artists went out sketching and painting the devastation in the city and their pieces are really poignant; they are very striking works of art and I’ve been completely absorbed cataloguing them.
I’m hoping to have a short break soon to take five.
Spring was very busy with auctions, filming Antiques Roadshow and giving talks to groups. We’re also looking forward to working with music venue St George’s Bristol soon – so watch this space!
For more information about Chris and upcoming auctions at Clevedon Salerooms, visit the website clevedonsalerooms.com
