City Stylin' at the Cattle Market #7

Back in 1988, me and a friend were in the pub on a bank holiday. We decided we wanted to go to the seaside, so we got on a train to Skegness and that night I met the woman who would become my wife. I lived in Wellingborough at the time and we decided to live together, so we flipped a coin. I can’t remember if I won or lost, but we ended up in Ilkeston.

I’m an auctioneer at Arthur Johnson & Sons, and every day has its order here. You’re working on a weekly cycle, so you have to be rigid about where you are in that process. On an auction day I get in at about five to nine. You don’t need to psych yourself up or anything, there’s no real prep. It’s always good to know the product you’re selling; for example, people like to know if a piece of furniture has a tear on a back corner. You have to be honest with people if you want them to come back. As the years go by I see adults that used to come here as toddlers. I like that.

The Cattle Market is a bit like a club where no-one’s a member. I think that’s missing in a lot of society these days: that cohesiveness in communities. But the Cattle Market is, to a degree, a community.

Jason Motley