Co-owner of Hungerford Arcade has died
The co-owner of the award-winning Hungerford Arcade antiques centre, Hazel Browne, has died.
She was 91 years old.
Mrs Browne was born and raised by her beloved grandmother in the Hampshire village of Bentley.
She met future husband Geoffrey through a shared interest in motorbikes and they married in 1952.
Mr Browne became an aerodynamics engineer and worked at AWRE Aldermaston.
After raising three daughters, running a riding school at Burghfield Common and collecting antiques over many years, the pair opened Faulknor Antiques in Hungerford.
She also traded as a general antiques dealer at Guinea Lane Market, in Bath, with her friend Tuppy Gregg, and also at Portobello Market in London.
When Hungerford Arcade opened in 1974, she and Ms Gregg were among the initial stallholders, trading as the Junk Shop, which is still trading today.
In 1980, Mrs Browne was widowed and threw herself into her work even more.
With her new partner Adrian Gilmour, trips to France to buy stock were regular for many years and the Junk Shop was always full of tin baths, fire irons, lamps and kitchenalia.
She made many friends in the trade over the years and loved to travel with them to the big fairs and exhibitions in London.
In 2004, when Hungerford Arcade came up for sale and was in danger of redevelopment, Mrs Browne and Mr Gilmour bought it.
It had become rather run-down over the years and they managed to turn it back into a thriving antiques centre.
In 2012 Hungerford Arcade won the BBC Homes and Antiques Magazine award for Best Antique Centre.
Mrs Browne and Mr Gilmour travelled to Bristol for the awards ceremony featuring television personalities Kirsty Allsopp and Mark Hill.
Mr Gilmour continues to run the arcade successfully and recently acquired The Lamb Antiques Centre in Wallingford.
Mrs Browne’s great passions in life were horses, dogs, antiques and gardening.
She continued gardening into her 90s and adored her old English sheepdog, Bertie.
Mrs Browne will be greatly missed by her husband Adrian, her three daughters Penny, Louise and Lizzie, along with seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Her funeral will take place at 1pm at St Lawrence Church in Hungerford on Tuesday, October 18.
