A JEWELLERS in Thornbury is celebrating a landmark celebration this weekend with their silver anniversary.

Gems of Thornbury, was opened on the High Street 25 years ago by Mick Horton and Jan Van Mazyk, where it continues to thrive today.

Master craftsman Jan, who learned his trade in Clifton, originally founded Gems as a workshop in Bristol in 1976, offering a jewellery repair and manufacturing service to trade customers.

The first Gems store was set up in the 1980s in Staple Hill, with the two partnering up in 1989 to open a new shop in Frome.

Mick had decided to partner up and branch out into the independent trade, having worked in the industry for a number of years in a high street chain, with the pair eventually running two more shops in Warminster and Thornbury.

Originally, the Thornbury shop was next door to their current home on the High Street, which was a former jewellers that had become a lingerie shop, moving six years later.

Eventually Mick and Jan decided consolidate the business under one roof in Thornbury, where today Mick oversees the shop, while Jan runs the workshop, which offers a wealth of services including an amazing custom-made jewellery service that you would be hard pressed to get in most chains.

“We saw an opportunity in Thornbury. It was an ideal location, a lovely market town in an affluent area, and after setting up here, we have loved every second of it,” said Mick.

“Over the years we have built up quite a relationship with our customers and it is great to see the children that came to the shop with their parents back then still coming in with their own children today.”

As with any high-value trade, the shop has had its fair share of troubles as well, having been ram raided and broken into on a couple of occasions, but Mick and Jan say they are proud to have kept going.

Jan said: “We been through a lot and have seen a lot of people come and go through the years, but we are still here.

“We have also done our best to move with the times and drag the business into the new era, introducing new technology to improve our designs and offer our customers more.”

To celebrate the anniversary, the shop have announced a special Silver Anniversary sale this Saturday, with 25 per cent off on all silver.

“It is just a bit of fun,” said Mick. “And in a way, it is a thankyou from us to our customers. Hopefully lots of familiar faces will stop by to share the day with us.”