The Lanes Armoury is based in the very centre of the world famous Brighton Lanes and owned by the Hawkins brothers, Mark and David.

Over the century our client list has expanded from Postmen to Presidents from Reverends to Royalty, but we pride themselves on principals of courtesy and assistance that is equal for all. Every sale is important, as is every client. Only our inventory of books is too huge to list on our website. Our company also offers an ‘Inspiration Service’ for those in need of a gift or even an idea for the new collector, who may wish to start collecting, without knowing in what direction to proceed. We can guide you through a few simple inquiries to find the perfect and unique gift or the start of a collection. Every day we buy and sell little pieces of history, albeit a portion of a mediaeval manuscript a 1st Edition Charles Dickens or a Royal Naval Cannon used at Trafalgar. There is no other shop or website in Europe that can offer a selection or rarities and artefacts of worldwide history quite like us.

My brother and I have over 80 years’ combined personal experience in this profession, our family has been family traders and merchants based in Brighton old town for generations, in fact going back well into the 19^th century. The original family antique export company, in which we both started our early careers, was one of the largest and influential companies of its kind in Europe. So trading and sourcing collectable artefacts for our thousands of clients around the world has been part of our family roots for as long as anyone can remember. We frequently appear as both resident and visiting consultants to numerous television programmes, on various satellite T.V. channels and the BBC. We have featured in dozens of famous reference books, and historical volumes on antique collecting, including the Miller’s Guides to Antique Values, and have featured in hundreds of articles in numerous magazines and daily newspapers from around the globe. The Lanes Armoury was nominated and short-listed for the British Antique & Collectors Awards as the best Antique Shop in Great Britain, and The New York Times featured our shop as one of the essential places to visit in the whole of England. Although historically, we were part of one of the oldest and largest dealers in the trade of antique exporting in Europe, we are the first generation of the family to exclusively concentrate and specialise in rare books, arms, armour, and worldwide militaria.

The Lanes Armoury is in the old Lanes [now called the South Lanes] in Brighton, East Sussex,  the glorious south coast town, that is now a city, that was listed in the Domesday Day book, the 11^th Century Census of England, but only truly made famous by the Prince Regent, later King George IVth, and his Palace, the amzing Brighton Pavilion. They are based in the very heart of the old town, which is now called the South Lanes, which are now shops, built in converted fisherman’s cottages. It has become over the past 100 years, an exclusive pedestrian shopping region containing around 100 retail stores, comprising of high class restaurants, jewellery shops, designer stores and now, the only remaining original antique shop, is The Lanes Armoury. In fact once upon a time the old lanes contained over 80 exclusive antique shops, and it was known as the antiques centre of Europe.