FOR the second time this year a television crew has been filming at Tim Brant-Coles’ Alton complex for Storage Hunters UK (Dave channel) which is a mark of how successful this 29-year-old entrepreneur has become in just a few short years.

With a £2,000 legacy from his grandfather, he bought a piece of land just outside the town and two small containers.

Nine years on and he has 350 containers of all sizes – some big enough to take the contents of an eight-bedroom house – and a fleet of furniture removal vans which travel the UK.

In addition to what customers put into the containers, they rent such things as classic cars, items of furniture, paintings or even antiques, he also stores records of charity organisations – at a discounted rate – and has the whole of the Tony and Guy hairdressing chain’s archive.

Tim doesn’t know what goes into the containers but the people who rent them know their valuables will be safe as he has a 24-hour security system in place, plus CCTV, to ensure no-one will be able to break in.

It is the unknown element of what is inside a container that has made the Storage Hunters programme addictive viewing as people are filmed bidding on a container where the rental is no longer being paid or the person, whose contents are inside, has simply abandoned it.

Then it comes up for auction and bidders take the chance on spending sometimes hundreds of pounds on buying the unknown contents which could be valuable or simply an old wardrobe or broken items of furniture and kitchen goods.

So in July, Tim, who went to Moorhouse School in Farnham, said: “It was exciting when North One, the production company producing the show, arrived with a 200-plus crew to film the first programme.”

Shaun Kelly, as the auctioneer, fronts the programme and in this episode a couple bid £800 to open a container to find painting and some First World War memorabilia.

“I think the painting might have been valuable,” said Tim.

So successful was that first programme that North One returned in October to film another show, but as before Tim, who with his partner April lives in Alton, stayed “very much in the background”.

What he was pleased about was that they “brought their catering bus back on the first day and invited me aboard for a meal and it was great food. On the second day they had their meals in The Departure Lounge Cafe next door and they really enjoyed it.”

Tim isn’t sure when this second programme will be shown, possibly next month when he can see what was found in the containers the top bidders opened.

Having your company featured on television is a real mark of success for a young man who “took a chance” with his legacy and now has a business that continues to grow every year.

“At first I found a lot of people didn’t understand about the storage business but now the idea is spreading and for as little as £40 per month you can rent a safe, secure place for important documents, jewellery, antiques, sentimental items you don’t want left laying round the house or simply storing furniture you want to use later,” he said.