ABOUT DRAPERS GUNS

Drapers Airgun Centre is a family-run business which was originally established as P J Draper in 1957 by Peter Draper. It was then a car audio, electronics and home electrical store, and when Peter’s son Christopher joined him at the age of 16, he brought his hobby from spending time on the family farm – guns and shooting – into the business. Chris placed an advert in the local Nottingham Evening Post to buy a new gun for himself and found he was inundated with people wanting to sell their guns. This led to buying a lot of early stock through the paper and at that time selling them on, in a very small corner of the shop.

During the 1990s selling of electrical goods became harder and the shop moved over entirely to airguns and accessories. We began to sell nationwide, no longer serving just the local community.

Almost forty years later he has expanded the business into one of the largest Airgun and Airsoft showrooms within England. Drapers Airgun Centre is situated not far from Nottingham City Centre, in Radford, and due to expansion it now occupies where three shops originally stood.

We supply everything from guns and their accessories through to hunting knives and night vision, and we offer an outstanding service at the shop itself along with competitive prices. If you wish to visit you can spend your time viewing all our items and be shown our products to your complete satisfaction on purchase. All of our staff will welcome you and they are happy to help with any queries. Our shop also provides a gunsmith. If you have a problem with your gun, purchased from us or from anywhere else, we will be happy to take a look and aim to fix it for a competitive fee, depending on the repair needs.

Our staff will offer practical advice on what products are most suitable for your needs. There is always one of our enthusiastic members of staff available and ready to help you. We do in-house repairs and also have an experienced website developer on site for your needs.

Mr Christopher Draper, Company Director, is now retired and lives abroad. He shoots regularly and has extensive knowledge of the gun trade and smithery. He does pop into the shop on his visits back to the UK, but we encourage him to try and take a back seat now!

Chris’s daughter, Miss Rebecca Draper, has been with the company since 2010 and has worked up to Company Secretary and Director. She is not usually seen in front of house but manages everything in the background and has a love of shooting. She handles all the accounts and obtains the best deals for her customers.

And then there is Ruby – our Gunshop Dog! A beautiful Akita usually seen lying around the shop, keeping a watchful eye on all she surveys!

Sadly, last September we tragically lost one of our most valued members of staff, Adrian Green. He had worked for Drapers for over thirty years and he was a friend, a colleague, and simply one of the family. We will remember his loyalty, and he will be sadly missed by both staff and customers. “Who’s going to eat all the biscuits and pork pies now?”