Who We Are
Any Old Lights’ founders met in the beautiful seaside town of Fowey, Cornwall. Nick (far left above) was a former journalist having made the big break from London, with his wife Sinead and young family, in 2011. Pat was a builder by trade and had moved from Oldham 15 years earlier.
Over a pint in the Ship Inn, Pat asked Nick to build a website for some vintage marine lighting he was selling. Nick quickly fell in love with these beautiful pieces, and before long had joined the company full time. Nick’s wife Sinead, who was working at Fifteen Cornwall, came on board with marketing support, and the three of them criss-crossed the country in search of lights and exhibiting at vintage fairs ranging from Bedruthan Steps to Alexandra Palace.
The offer of a pop-up shop in Lazy Jacks Kitchen, which closed for the winter, allowed them to see at first hand people’s enthusiasm for their vintage lighting. In 2014 they moved in alongside antiques dealer, Tipper, in Tipper’s Treasures, and the following year took over the shop – Fowey’s oldest, at 9 South Street.
As the business burgeoned, we moved into our current showroom at 14 Lostwithiel Street in Fowey – a beautiful former butcher’s with 1920s tiled walls. People are always stopping to take photos!
Alongside the old ship lights, the natural step was to begin collecting nautical curios: antique ships’ wheels, vintage brass compasses, engine order telegraphs. The vintage ships’ clocks are now almost as popular as the lighting itself.
Having watched certain patterns of lights disappear from circulation in relatively short periods of time, we also moved into exclusive designs: making high quality copies of old lights approaching obsolescense – our Revivals range.
Our lights now come from all over the world and are sold to Australia, the USA and across Europe.
Pat left the company in early 2017 to pursue other ventures and now Nick and Sinead run Any Old Lights as a family business. They somehow find the time to bring up two small girls alongside community ventures such as operating the Love Fowey website, driving the community bus and organising Fowey’s Cider and Cheese Festival. (A love of cider and cheese helps!)
They are ably assisted by customer manager Justine, workshop engineer Clive, and shop assistant, Mel.
Photograph by Tom Last.
Any Old Lights
We are reclaimed lighting specialists based in the seaside town of Fowey, Cornwall, who source vintage nautical lighting off decommissioned ships, vintage industrial lights removed from factories and warehouses in England, as well as maritime collectables. We also sell exclusive, high-quality copies of obsolete vintage lighting.
We work with trusted salvage yards, specialists and auction houses, home and abroad, to seek out bulk numbers of popular vintage lights, as well as unusual pieces that will stand out from the crowd. We source lights that others do not stock, and we create lighting – the Lighthouse, for instance – exclusive to ourselves.
We can supply stock in numbers for both domestic and commercial customers. We also purchase new maritime and industrial lighting provided it meets our exacting standards and matches the original piece – some old lights simply disappear from the shelves. One day, all the stunning reclaimed lighting on this site, brass, bronze, aluminium, will have gone, as newer, cheaper materials take over.
If you can’t find what you’re after, please do ask – we can help. We can even have lighting made, from your own designs.
We pride ourselves on our personal, friendly service, so contact us, phone the shop on 01726 833623, or call Justine on 07949 053640, if you have any queries.
We hope you enjoy looking through our stock as much as we enjoyed sourcing it for you!
Nick, Sinead & the Team
@ ANY OLD LIGHTS LTD
Meet The Team
This photograph was taken rather spontaneously in 2017 after a staff meeting. Nick and Sinead’s daughters insisted on getting in the picture – well, we do pride ourselves on being a family business. Clockwise from left are Nick, Sinead (holding Soren), Tracey, TJ, Justine (kneeling) and eight-year-old Regan.
I am truly delighted with my three custom-coloured factory pendant lights. The fact that I was able to have the lights coloured to my precise RAL specification made this a no-brainer. Any Old Lights were faultless at swiftly processing my order to ensure that the lights were sprayed and ready in time for fitting out my shop. The lights themselves are great, really solid and more than worth the money. The shop has only been open less than a fortnight and already I have had lots of compliments on the lights. I couldn’t be more pleased, thank you!