Jay Blades: 'Listening to people's stories can be testing on the emotions'

The award-winning furniture restorer and BBC TV presenter shares his secrets with Eve Kelliher during his visit to Cork

Jay Blades (BBC's The Repair Shop) at Casey's Furniture, Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork. Pictures: Dan Linehan

Jay Blades credits a chair he bought at a garage sale in Wolverhampton for kickstarting his passion for revamping preloved furniture.

The rest is history — the London native, best known as the presenter of BBC1’s The Repair Shop, is stopped by fans from across the globe everywhere he goes.

Do they all want advice on restoring their sofas? “Normally people just ask me about the show,” says Jay.

Such is the case when Jay Blades, MBE, award-winning television host and upcycler extraordinaire, hits Cork and Limerick during the week for a whistle-stop tour.

An Australian couple whose cruise ship has docked in Cobh are among the first in the queue to greet him.

As for that unassuming piece of furniture that turned his life around? The chair, snapped up for £40 (€46.60) was by British brand G Plan.

Jay has now joined forces with the label to create his own distinctive collection of sofas, available in Ireland at Casey’s Furniture in Cork and Limerick.

Jay Blades on Cork's Oliver Plunkett Street.

“I love furniture that gets people talking and we’ve created some wonderful pieces that not only look great but are a joy to live with,” he says.

“A sense of home has always been important to me, and I love the fact each piece in the range is named after a place from my East London roots, it makes the collection even more personal and gives it a real sense of purpose.”

Jay’s own first home was in Hackney, where he grew up, raised by his mother Barbara.

He’s making himself comfortable in Casey’s Furniture on Oliver Plunkett Street as we chat.

Later that afternoon he will travel to Casey’s Furniture’s Limerick showroom to launch the collection, during his one-day visit to Munster — his second-ever visit to Ireland.

Names for the sofas in Jay’s collection simply suggested themselves to him.

“They are all associated with areas and streets where I grew up, places that are part of my history," says Jay.

TV presenter and furniture restorer Jay Blades with Australian fans Ken and Shirley Watts. 

Jay is reluctant to choose a favourite but admits the Ridley sofa has a special appeal for him. "I used to go to Ridley Road Market, in East London, every Saturday with my mom, carrying the trolley, and stuff like that, so it has very fond memories," he says.  

Is it easy to embark on a furniture restoration journey as a complete beginner? “I think one of the biggest things is to have a bit of fun with it — to enjoy the process — because learning anything is quite hard,” he says.

The Repair Shop is known for the emotional heft of its stories. Have any, in particular, had a dramatic impact on him? “I think stories that moved me a lot when men are emotional about a partner, their wife or their children, who have passed away, those are the ones that do get me very often and then any that have a kind of cultural link — for instance, something that I would have had in my house or that I would have seen in other people’s houses growing up — but they are all very special.”

Jay Blades at Casey's, Cork.

Filming paused on an episode of The Repair Shop that aired last year after the camera crew broke down in tears. 

How important does Jay feel it is to have emotional support and did the cast and crew always benefit from onset counselling? “No, we didn’t always have it. It’s a recent addition,” he says.

Jay Blades with Peter Casey of Casey's Furniture. 

“I think it’s been in place for about four years but it’s very important because if you’re listening to stories for sometimes up to two hours, it can quite be testing on the emotions — it’s almost as if you’re becoming a counsellor, so if you have four of them [stories] and almost every story has an element of death in it, it can be quite heavy,” says Jay.

Jay Blades with Peter Casey and Casey's Furniture staff members Tosh Finnegan, Jakub Kluska, Erica Muldoon, Mary Coughlan and Robert Twomey. 

Christmas specials are episodes that are close to Jay’s heart, as was filming an episode dedicated to the NHS.

“We have also had the King on, those ones are quite special,” he adds.

The NHS, community spirit and what he describes as “huge acts of kindness” are what Jay credits for saving his life, eight years ago.

“I fell down,” he says simply.

The 53-year-old had set up a charity with his first wife to help disadvantaged young people learn the trade of furniture restoration.

He was working on the daytime TV show Money For Nothing but after the charity lost its funding and his marriage ended, a difficult spell followed.

Jay has previously opened up about suffering and says his recovery was made possible by the understanding of NHS nurses who helped him to get his life back on track.

“Basically, it’s the community, where I live, Wolverhampton, that came together the same way The Repair Shop community comes together to fix items for people.

“It was eight years ago. I fell down and the community picked me back up and actually got me to where I am now, so I’m very grateful,” he says.

The award-winning BBC presenter has received an MBE for his Services to Craft, and become an ambassador for The Prince’s Foundation and Heritage Crafts.

“I’ve only been on TV for about seven years and I haven’t done too bad — and that’s because of the level of support I have around me, it’s insane.”

After his Cork and Limerick visit, it’s back to the UK in time for Jay to present an honorary doctorate to Leigh-Anne Pinnock of Little Mix at Buckinghamshire New University.

Chancellor of Buckinghamshire New University Jay Blades with Leigh-Anne Pinnock ahead of her receiving an honorary doctorate, at the university, in High Wycombe. 

Leigh-Anne is one of the many people Jay has mentored over the years through his community work.

Jay left school at 15 with no qualifications and worked as a labourer and in factories. At 31 he studied criminology at Buckinghamshire New University, where it was discovered he had a reading age of 11 due to undiagnosed dyslexia. He became the first-ever chancellor of the university.

The TV presenter, who has three children, is married to Lisa Zbozen and plans to be home by the weekend to enjoy some jazz, reggae and house music and a bit of a boogie in the living room with his wife. “I’m normally away six days a week so on a Friday if I can get home we play music and we have a dance,” he says.

• gplan.co.uk/Jayblades 
• Caseys