Edinburgh's Holyrood Architectural Salvage has been selling architectural salvage for decades. Antique fireplaces and inserts are a mainstay of the business. Holyrood's oldest piece in stock is a possibly 17th century cast iron fireback, dated 1649, priced at £875. Fireplaces are supplied in many different periods and styles, from a c1880 Carrara marble mantel for sale at £2,500, an extra wide impressive pure white marble mantel at £9,999, an elegant original pine Georgian fireplace with pine and gesso eagle details at £3,995 to a simple matt black restored arched insert at £675. But it was not fireplaces that brought proprietor Ken Fowler into the trade.

Like most salvage yard owners Ken started with one item, a simple bath lying on the top of the scrap heap. Ken says, "I had it restored and then reckoned I could do better so started my first salvage business All About Baths."
 
With a spray painter employee, business flourished. All About Baths carried out bath resurfacing for councils and private clients. During his spare time Ken bought baths from the scrap yard, refurbished them and sold them in the newspaper. He had a small workshop but quickly upgraded to 600 square feet plus the spare bedroom at home.
 
Ken says, "Whilst emptying the local scrap yards of baths we were coming across cast cisterns, gates, taps, inserts, combinations, door knobs and loads of other goodies which were there for the picking but the penny had not dropped.
 
"As we were selling baths, customers would ask if we had a sink or a toilet which then took us onto our next venture - sourcing salvage from local plumbers. We were primarily focusing on bathrooms but as we came across other items, we took them in to save them from landfill and to give them a whirl. Fireplaces and doors seemed immensely popular and a trip in the van around Edinburgh could yield thousands of pounds in booty from skips, but unfortunately these days are gone.
 
"We changed our name to Holyrood Architectural Salvage and went for broke by taking on huge premises and a few staff. We moved to our current location The Tun Rooms around 18 years ago. It is the major part of a gorgeous Victorian brewery building less than ten minutes from Holyrood Palace. We now have 8000 square feet of wonderful items salvaged mostly locally. In the early years we would travel far and wide to buy, but now we rarely need to leave the premises as there is always a regular stream of friendly locals bringing things in to sell.
 
"We used to enjoy the days of rooting around old hospitals or asylums and picking up the oddest of things such as operating theatre lights, roll top baths with special keys for the taps (only the staff had the key) so the the asylum occupants couldn't scald themselves, skeleton cabinets etc. We still get calls that get us excited and recently had one asking us to clear out the ancient depths of a local building. Some gems were to be had including a metal table with an oak top and four attached swinging chairs, several refectory tables, a cell door, panelling and lots of other prized items. We still love the business as you never know what the next minute, hour or day will bring.
 
"Our only regret is that we are still Edinburgh's best kept secret, despite many claims to fame, including someone dying in one of our baths during an episode of Taggart. A partner's desk and various props bought from us featured on the recent Tom Hanks movie, The Railway Man. Production companies for movies such as The Wicker Man and an array of TV programmes have purchased our wares. Top magazines have sprawled scantily clad women over our salvage to help sell their goods!

"Now that the recession is behind us we look forward to meeting new clients and associates within the trade." Holyrood is always in need of good marble mantels and inserts. Ken says, "If you need anything from Scotland and are visiting our beautiful country, please drop in for a chat."
 
Holyrood Architectural Salvage Ltd is a Salvo Code member.