Home » Meet The Repair Shop favourite Steve Fletcher – the nation’s top clock restorer! Thu 20 August 2020 15:52 Eve Edwards
Meet The Repair Shop favourite Steve Fletcher – the nation’s top clock restorer! Thu 20 August 2020 15:52 Eve Edwards
The Repair Shop is a show that brings all manner of things back to life in a bid to stop Britain’s throwaway culture. From sentimental family heirlooms to antiques that need some serious work, the BBC series covers it all.
And it only does so with the help of some of the nation’s most expert repairers!
Each episode, the regular Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades has a variety of guests repairers join him in the barn to fix-up broken items. But there are some regulars who have become fan-favourites since the show kicked off in 2017.
One of the favourites is clock restorer Steve Fletcher, whose sister Suzie is also on the show. Get to know everything about Steve here!
Programme Name: The Repair Shop S2 – TX: n/a – Episode: n/a (No. n/a) – Picture Shows: William Kirk, Steven Fletcher, Kirsten Ramsay, Jay Blades – (C) Ricochet Ltd – Photographer: Bread and Shutter Ltd – Barry ReadWho is Steve Fletcher?
Oxfordshire-based Steve inherited the family business of clock repair and restoration.
In the early 1970s, the 57-year-old began training for his craft and inherited The Clock Workshop in Witley, Oxfordshire, which had been in the Fletcher family since 1910.
Steve’s official craft title is that of a horologist. He studied horology at Hackney College before it closed.
Steve has a son called Fred – named after Steve’s grandfather who opened The Clock Workshop – who is now 18-years-old.
Clocks weren’t always key
Although Steve has become an expert horologist, this area of skill wasn’t always his priority.
Speaking to The Telegraph in 2017, Steve explained that he originally wanted to be a silversmith.
He said: “I was offered an apprenticeship at Harts in Chipping Campden, the top silver people, but my parents were quite poor and couldn’t afford board and lodgings, so I didn’t do it.”
Luckily he had a knack for turning his hand to anything and has become one of the country’s best horologists. Steve now employs five people at The Clock Workshop and under his guidance has apprentices training with him.
Screenshot: The Repair Shop E3 – iPlayer One of his favourite pieces he has restored is a clock at Chequers, which politicians and Prime Ministers have stood to take their photograph in front of.
Some of the clocks that Steve have repaired have even dated back to the 17th century but he says he prefers fixing up clocks with sentimental rather than historical value.
It looks like that Steve doesn’t have a public Instagram profile, however, there’s an Insta account of The Clock Workshop.
With only 32 posts, the profile has a follower count of over 2,700.
