John Jackson at Town House

Town House started life in a shop in Columbia Road in 1997 selling painted furniture and decorative objects. I moved a few years later to an early eighteenth century building in Spitalfields, opposite the wonderful local landmark of Hawksmoor's Christ Church. Weavers lived in the building until about 1820, before two doctors, father and son, moved in; they lived here for fifty years until the 1870's and built what is now the rear gallery as their surgery. A succession of people and businesses followed: a Russian translator, a furrier, coffee rooms and storage for the vegetable market, until at the end of the Second World War it became the Market Cafe, which remained here until 2000 and the arrival of Town House.

My parents were also dealers who loved everything Georgian, so inspired by the 1720 panelled interior, I began by concentrating on mid eighteenth century English furniture and objects. However, tastes have altered in the intervening ten years and interesting things are harder to find, so Town House has recently changed again to reflect today's more eclectic tastes and my desire to make the shop a more personal and creative space.

When you visit there are three distinct areas to have a look around: the main room where you will find antique furniture and upholstery alongside a mix of things that just catch my eye. Downstairs is a kitchen area selling old china, glasses and serving dishes and colourful modern pottery. Finally, there is a gallery to the rear of the main building, the doctors' surgery, showing my stock of 20th century British art when there is not an exhibition on.