THERE'S a moment when you meet two men called Jamie and Andy Murray and briefly wonder whether you've stumbled across a rather unexpected sporting story.
But no, these aren't those Murray brothers.
There'll be no Wimbledon titles, Olympic medals or tennis rackets here – although, given the extraordinary collection of curiosities inside their St Helens business, I wouldn't rule anything out.
Instead, Jamie Murray and his brother Andy are more concerned with shifting sofas, clearing houses and finding new homes for the countless strange and wonderful objects that pass through their hands.
And what a collection it is.
Tucked away on the outskirts of the town centre, at the rear of 34 Ward Street, Murray's Antiques is packed from floor to ceiling with an eclectic collection of second-hand furniture, antiques and curiosities.
Old dentists' tools sit alongside outdoor survival bags, vintage cameras, tobacco pipes, clothes wringers and retro rugby league posters.
There is furniture, clothing and all manner of household oddities, too.
It's a little like stepping back into your hoarder nan's house – the one where absolutely nothing was ever thrown away because, one day, it might come in handy.
You half expect to find an old biscuit tin stuffed with obsolete banknotes, foreign coins and things nobody can quite identify tucked away somewhere.
When I arrived, Jamie was unloading a sofa from the back of a truck alongside his brother Andy – a fairly typical day's work for the pair.
But the story behind the business, and the history of the buildings themselves, is anything but ordinary.
A family business with a history
The buildings once served as a cattle shed and stables, where the brothers' great-grandfather ran auctions selling horses and cattle.
The premises were subsequently passed down through the family and rented out to various businesses, including a timber merchant, before Jamie moved in during 2020.
His route into the antiques trade, however, was not quite so traditional.
Jamie had previously worked in the finance department at St Helens Council before becoming business manager at Rainhill High School.
He later joined his wife's ladies-only fitness business, which ran boot camps and exercise classes with around 50 women attending sessions.
But the arrival of Covid brought that venture to an abrupt end.
With restrictions preventing large group exercise classes, the business could no longer operate as it had before, leaving the family facing an uncertain future.
Fortunately, Jamie already had another interest he could fall back on.
"Every weekend, on my days off, I'd be at car boot sales buying things and selling them on," he explained.
"I was always looking for an antique or a bargain."
What had been a hobby suddenly became a potential lifeline.
Jamie began buying and selling more seriously, listing items on eBay and travelling around the North West to purchase stock from auction houses.
It wasn't long before another idea emerged.
"I thought: wouldn't it be a good idea if I set up an auction business? St Helens needs an auction house."
He operated an auction business from the premises for around a year, but eventually realised house clearances offered a better opportunity.
The auction operation closed, and Murray's emerged in its current form around 2021.
Five years on, it has developed into a business that combines house clearances with a treasure trove of second-hand goods, antiques and curiosities.
The secrets behind the shop's success
Despite its somewhat hidden location, Jamie says word of mouth and Facebook Marketplace have helped bring customers through the door.
He also works with estate agents and solicitors on house clearances, while social media has become an increasingly important way of showcasing what is available.
Although Jamie admits he isn't particularly comfortable in front of the camera.
"My wife comes in and says: 'Do a video!'" he laughed.
"I hate doing videos, but you've got to push yourself out of your comfort zone."
One of the things he enjoys most is the variety of people who come through the door.
While antiques might traditionally be associated with older collectors, Jamie says there is a healthy mix of ages, including younger buyers and dealers.
Some customers are drawn in by the prospect of finding a bargain, while others simply enjoy looking around.
And then there are those who arrive with a sudden rush of nostalgia.
"You get people walking around saying: 'Oh, my nan had one of these!' or 'I used to have one of those!'" Jamie said.
It is also a place where people can stop for a chat.
Jamie believes the shop offers something beyond its role as a place to buy and sell second-hand goods, particularly for people who might otherwise feel lonely.
"What I like about this place is that I feel it's good for people's health," he said.
"People come in and have a chat. You can see that some people are lonely, and they come in here, so we're always asking how they are.
"It's a bit of a safe place, really."
The business has also attracted customers looking to furnish their homes without spending a fortune, including families moving into rented accommodation around the town.
Jamie says keeping prices affordable is important, with stock constantly changing as items are sold and replaced.
"We sell things at very budget-friendly prices because we just want them gone," he said.
"As soon as that table and chairs sells, there'll be another one there tomorrow."
An extraordinary discovery in an Eccleston garage
Perhaps the best illustration of the unpredictable nature of the business comes from one particular house clearance in Eccleston.
Around five years ago, while working his way through a garage, Jamie spotted something underneath a boiler.
It looked suspiciously like a bomb.
At first, he questioned himself.
Surely there couldn't be an actual bomb sitting in somebody's garage?
But after deciding it wasn't worth risking his life over, he contacted the woman whose property he was clearing.
Fortunately, her father was still alive and able to explain the mystery.
He had apparently been holidaying in Belgium during the 1960s when he spotted an unexploded First World War bomb lying beside a road.
Rather than leave it where it was, he decided to take it home.
He loaded it into his car, with his wife and children alongside him, and drove all the way back to St Helens.
The bomb was subsequently left in the corner of his garage, apparently with the intention of taking it apart and making a firework for the children.
Decades later, Jamie had stumbled across it.
The bomb squad was called, the road was cordoned off and the device was eventually taken away to be detonated at Eccleston Fields.
It is fair to say that house clearances don't come much more eventful than that.
Jamie says the business has uncovered plenty of other unusual items over the years, including human skeletons.
Some discoveries, he suggested, are perhaps best left out of the newspaper.
More than just an antiques shop
For all the strange objects and extraordinary stories, however, it is the family connection that seems to mean the most to him.
His grandfather also ran a house clearance business from North Road, meaning Jamie is continuing a tradition that began long before he started filling the former cattle shed with its present collection.
His brother Andy has now joined him in the business, too.
Asked to describe Murray's in one sentence, Jamie doesn't mention the antiques, the bargains or even the occasional unexploded bomb.
Instead, he returns to the atmosphere he hopes to create.
"I would say it's a safe place for people who come here," he said.
"I'm proud that this is in St Helens."
"People come in and say: 'This is the best thing in St Helens!'"
It might not be Wimbledon, but Jamie and Andy Murray have certainly found their own way of keeping people entertained.
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