Fishing tackle dealer founded in 1838 opens a stall at Snoopers Paradise

Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques², a dealer in old fishing rods, reels and tackle, has opened a space inside Snoopers Paradise³ in the North Laine. It is at Stall 81 in the indoor flea market on Kensington Gardens, Brilliant Brighton¹ reported.

The firm was established in 1838. Its website calls it “the oldest supplier of quality antique, vintage and modern classic collectible fishing tackle in the world”, and says it sells, buys and exchanges tackle from its UK store with collectors around the world. Most of its trade is online.

The stock takes in makers such as Hardy, Farlows and Allcock, plus unusual pieces that are getting harder to find. One reel in the cabinet at the moment is a Penn Senator, a smaller version of the reel used in Jaws.

Matt Daymond of Thomas Turner lives in Brighton and has been a Snoopers customer for years. “We’re predominantly an online business specialising in antique, vintage and collectible fishing tackle, so it’s great to have a physical presence, particularly somewhere like Snoopers,” he said in Brilliant Brighton’s report. As for the Penn Senator: “if anyone fancies trying to catch a ‘not so’ great white off Brighton Marina, we’ve got them covered!”

Snoopers Paradise covers 7,000 sq ft and has more than 70 independent traders, selling vintage clothes, records, cameras, taxidermy and ephemera among much else. Its cabinets already hold Roman coins and Victorian trinkets.

Jenny Hurren, communications manager at Snoopers Paradise, said: “We love having proper specialists in Snoopers — people who know an extraordinary amount about a very particular corner of the vintage world.” People could come to the stall, she said, “as an angler, a collector, someone interested in design and engineering or just somebody who spots a beautiful old reel and wants to know its story.”