Born into a family of second-generation pawnbrokers, it was perhaps inevitable that Dan Hatfield might one day end up following those footsteps. But it was a phone call from a TV production researcher a decade ago that supercharged that trajectory, leading him to star in Channel 4’s Posh Pawnbrokers, ITV’s Million Pound Pawn and, more recently, as resident expert on ITV’s This Morning.
Dan was a mere baby when he was first introduced to the world of antique jewellery by his mother, Lena, who he nicknames Queenie, at their Sheffield based London Road Pawnbrokers. ‘My mum loves diamonds, and my earliest memory was of her with diamond rings on her fingers,’ he remembers. ‘She’d allow the light to flicker on the diamonds and sparkle – so the name Queenie just took.’
However, while Dan, now 42, was literally born into pawnbroking, when it came to his own career choice he initially decided to follow a different path, studying PR & Marketing at Leeds Metropolitan University (now Leeds Beckett University) – ‘I couldn’t bear to leave Yorkshire so went to the next big city here,’ he admits – before embarking on a career in recruitment, a successful one at that.
‘I worked for a big company and rose up the ranks pretty quickly, becoming one of their youngest managers but I got made redundant during the 2007/2008 financial crises and ended up getting a job in Australia,’ he tells me. ‘While I was waiting for my visa to come through, my mum asked if I’d look after the London Road shop for a couple of weeks while we were in-between managers. I reluctantly said yes but on that first day, I completely fell in love with pawnbroking.’
A true Yorkshire man at heart, Dan was also thrilled by the deals and bargains to be had.
‘I love putting deals together and that someone might come into the pawnbrokers and not have a clue how much an item’s worth,’ he continues. ‘But I actually also love it when someone knows exactly what the item’s worth, and I’ve got to get my bartering skills polished up and go full battle. I think Yorkshire folk are natural barterers, aren’t we? I mean, we all want a bargain and the best deal, and I think that’s why I love being a pawnbroker here.’
Fast forward to 2014 and Dan was due to start filming a pilot for the series but started to get cold feet. ‘I decided that I was going to cancel, I just didn’t think it was for me, but I got the days wrong for when we were supposed to be filming. So, I arrived at the pawnbrokers on December 1, 2014, and the camera crew were in the car park ready to start rolling,” explains Dan, who was recently diagnosed with ADHD. ‘One of the things with ADHDers is that sometimes we’re not the most organized, and I’d put the date incorrectly in my diary, but had I not done that, the sequence of events which led me to where I am now wouldn’t have occurred.’
The show, which debuted in 2021 as the nation was emerging from coronavirus lockdowns, was a huge hit for ITV and initiated Dan’s first appearance on primetime daytime programme, This Morning, where he is now the regular money-making expert.
‘I’ve been there two and a half years now and it’s amazing,’ he beams. “The show has been through a tough couple of years and I’m not here to put a sugar-coated PR spin on that, I can only speak of my own experience, and I’ve never seen a more hardworking group than the This Morning family. I love being a part of that. I mean I’m an Arabic, gay, ADHD lad from Sheffield, I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that I’d be where I am now and I’m loving every minute.’
Dan’s regular appearances on This Morning inspire and entertain the nation through practical and positive money-making ideas, while his column on collectibles for the Daily Mail looks at the value of everything from old pennies to Paddington Bears memorabilia.
Last year he also co-wrote a book with husband – award-winning creative director and producer of Channel 4 show Chateau DIY Joff Hatfield-Powell – which teaches people how to unlock their money-making potential through what he calls “Bubble” entrepreneurship.
‘It’s about looking at the world that you inhabit – your bubble – and monetising that,’ the 42-year-old explains. ‘Very often we can get overwhelmed by the macro, and by that, I mean, “how am I going to make a million pounds?”
‘The average UK home has around £3,000 of unwanted items that could be sold and made into money, for example, the average Brit has about £900 pounds of unwanted clothes in their wardrobe. And that’s before we even delve into the things that you would be reluctant to sell,’ he continues. ‘But you could also make up to £4,000 per month by renting out those items so it’s all about reassessing, revaluing and reevaluating our relationships with our material goods.’
Despite the fame a TV career has given him, Dan still spends three days per week at his London Road Pawnbrokers in Sheffield. He and Joff, who met at a TV exec friend’s party in Richmond in 2019 and wed in 2023, split their time between an apartment in London and their home in Totley, where they enjoy walks in the countryside with their four-year-old miniature dachshund, Albert, and trips to their local pub – The Crown Inn.
‘It’s a family-run, spit and sawdust pub with real ales,’ he says. ‘We’re keen walkers so we enjoy going for a long walk and a pint. We live write on the Yorkshire/Derbyshire border so we often go walking in the Peaks but love North Yorkshire – there’s an auction house in Leyburn, called Tennants, so we often head up there. I think North Yorkshire would be somewhere that I would retire to eventually.
‘I’ve been very lucky that work has taken me all over the country, but I never feel at home until I’m on Yorkshire soil. I often get asked, “would I ever move or stay in London?” Absolutely not I. I was born in Yorkshire. I live in Yorkshire, and I plan to spend my last days in Yorkshire.’
Money Maker: Unlock Your Money Making Potential (£16.99, published by Hodder Catalyst) is out now.
