Who is Derek Mathewson?

The founder of Mathewsons and the face of Bangers & Cash, a Yorkshire classic-car auctioneer trading since 1970, known for valuing originality and treating every car as living history.

Who are the Mathewsons on Bangers & Cash?

Founder Derek Mathewson and his sons Dave and Paul, who run the auctions and go out collecting cars, along with the wider Mathewsons team.

Can you visit Mathewsons in Thornton-le-Dale?

Yes. The gift shop and the Mathewsons Museum are at Roxby Garage on Pickering Road in the village, with a selection of Derek's favourites in one of the showrooms. Museum entry is £2.50 per person, correct at the time of writing, so check before you travel. The auctions are held at the Pickering site; check mathewsons.co.uk for current opening and auction dates.

When did Bangers & Cash start?

It was first broadcast at 8pm on Thursday 18 April 2019 on UKTV's Yesterday channel, and is made by Air TV. Series 13 began in February 2026, with UKTV's July 2025 order of a further four series taking the show into 2028 and past 200 episodes, and the Restoring Classics spin-off first broadcast on 21 July 2022. Since January 2026 it has also been on Channel 4's streaming service.

Where are Mathewsons auctions held now?

At the Pickering site, Unit 10, Enterprise Way, Thornton Road, Pickering, YO18 7NA, which is also the head office. Thornton-le-Dale keeps the gift shop and museum at Roxby Garage.

Can you watch a Mathewsons auction?

No, the auctions themselves at the Pickering site are not open to the general public. What visitors can attend is the six-day viewing period held before each sale, running Wednesday to Tuesday and closed on Sundays, which costs £5 per person and includes a donation to charity, correct at the time of writing. Viewing hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 12 noon; the site is closed to visitors on auction days. Check current viewing dates with Mathewsons before you travel.

Is there a bus from Thornton-le-Dale to Mathewsons at Pickering?

Yes, on weekdays during the viewing period before each sale. A free shuttle bus links Thornton-le-Dale, the Pickering auction site and Eastgate car park in Pickering, so visitors staying in the village can see the cars without driving. It does not run on auction days, which are not open to the public anyway. Times and pick-up arrangements are not published here, so check the current details with Mathewsons directly before you set off.

Where is Bangers & Cash located?

Mathewsons' gift shop and museum are at Roxby Garage, Pickering Road, Thornton-le-Dale, North Yorkshire. The working auctions are held at the Mathewsons site on Enterprise Way, Pickering, YO18 7NA, about a mile and a half away, with a free shuttle bus running between the two on weekdays during the viewing period. Both sit close to the A170 between Pickering and Scarborough.

Is Mathewsons still in Thornton-le-Dale?

Yes. The gift shop and the Mathewsons Museum remain in the village at Roxby Garage, while the auctions and head office are at the larger Pickering site.

Is the Mathewsons museum accessible, and can I take my dog?

The museum entrance is up steps, and Mathewsons' own sign warns that they are steep, so it will not suit everyone. Dogs are not permitted inside the museum, to protect the exhibits, though they are welcome around the village. Accompanied, well-behaved children are welcome. These are the rules the museum publishes on its own boards at the entrance; check with Mathewsons if you have a specific need.

Classic cars

Bangers & Cash and Mathewsons in Thornton-le-Dale

Thornton-le-Dale is the historical home of Mathewsons, the family classic-car auctioneers made famous by the TV series Bangers & Cash. The business grew up here, and while the working auctions have since moved to a larger site at Pickering, the village keeps the shop and the Mathewsons Museum of Derek Mathewson's own collection. Here's the story, who's who, and how to visit.

The Mathewsons premises on Pickering Road in Thornton-le-Dale, with the MATHEWSONS.CO.UK canopy over the forecourt and the A170 running past in the foreground — Mathewsons on Pickering Road. The gift shop and motor museum are on the same site.

At a glance

Where: Two sites, about a mile and a half apart. In the village: the gift shop and showroom displays at Roxby Garage, Pickering Road, Thornton-le-Dale, YO18 7LH. In Pickering: the head office and auction saleroom at Unit 10, Enterprise Way, Thornton Road, Pickering, YO18 7NA, where the sales happen.
Famous for: The UKTV series Bangers & Cash (since 2019) and its Restoring Classics spin-off.
The family: Founder Derek Mathewson and his sons Dave and Paul.
Museum: A selection of Derek's favourites, viewable in one of the showrooms at Roxby Garage, alongside the gift shop. Mathewsons' own Planning a Visit page states that the Thornton-le-Dale site is open seven days a week, 9am to 4pm. Mathewsons publish differing hours across their own website, and in practice the hours are looser than that and flex with how busy the village is, so ring 01751 474455 if you are making a special journey for it.
Museum entry: £2.50 per person, checked in person in September 2026. Prices change, so check before you travel.
Steps: The museum entrance is up steps, and Mathewsons' own sign at the entrance warns that they are steep. Take care, and see the accessibility page.
Dogs: Dogs are not permitted inside the museum, to protect the exhibits, as stated on the notice at the entrance. They are welcome on the street and around the village.
Children: Accompanied, well-behaved children are welcome, as stated on the museum's own sign.
Sale days: Auctions are held at the Pickering site and are not open to the general public. What visitors can attend is the six-day viewing period before each sale; see below.
Pre-auction viewing: A six-day viewing period runs before each auction, Wednesday to Tuesday, closed Sundays. Entry is £5 per person, which includes a donation to charity. Viewing is at the Pickering saleroom, not in the village. Correct at the time of writing, check before you travel.
Shuttle bus: A free shuttle runs on weekdays during the viewing period, linking Thornton-le-Dale, the Pickering auction saleroom and Eastgate car park in Pickering. Times and pick-up points are not published here; check with Mathewsons.
Visiting: Check mathewsons.co.uk for current opening, auction dates and shuttle bus arrangements.

Where is Bangers & Cash filmed?

Bangers & Cash is filmed at Mathewsons, the family classic-car auctioneers. The shop and the Mathewsons Museum are in Thornton-le-Dale, North Yorkshire (on Pickering Road), and the auctions are now filmed about a mile and a half away at the Mathewsons site at Pickering, on the Enterprise Way industrial estate.

Thornton-le-Dale Motor Museum

The attraction people find listed as Thornton le Dale Motor Museum is the Mathewsons museum at Roxby Garage on Pickering Road, in the middle of the village. It is the same place under a different name. On site it is signed as the North Yorkshire Motor Museum on the pavement A-board, and the notice at the entrance calls it the Mathewson Motor Collection, so all of these names mean one museum at Roxby Garage.

Mathewsons pavement sign in Thornton-le-Dale reading North Yorkshire Motor Museum, next classic auction, entries invited — The board on the pavement: the museum is signed here as the North Yorkshire Motor Museum.

What it is, plainly: a selection of Derek Mathewson's own cars in one of the showrooms, alongside the gift shop. Entry is £2.50 per person. Mathewsons' own Planning a Visit page states that the Thornton-le-Dale site is open seven days a week, 9am to 4pm. Correct at the time of writing, so check before you travel.

What it is not, said helpfully rather than as a criticism: it is not a large formal motor museum, and the working auctions are held elsewhere, at the Pickering site, which is closed to the general public. Visitors who arrive expecting a big museum are the ones who come away disappointed, so it is worth knowing in advance what you are coming to see.

The entrance to the Mathewsons motor museum in Thornton-le-Dale, with green boards reading Motor Museum and a sign warning of steep steps — The museum entrance. Mathewsons' own board warns that the steps are steep.

Who are Mathewsons?

Mathewsons is a family-run classic-car auction house founded by Derek Mathewson in 1970, beginning, in fact, far from Yorkshire, selling everyday and commercial vehicles in Bedfordshire: he started from a site in Bedford, buying at Enfield twice a week. The family moved to North Yorkshire in 1989 and ran the Skoda and Kia franchises through the 1990s, gradually letting Derek's lifelong passion for classics take over the business. In 2011 they launched the classic-car auctions that would make their name, from their museum and showroom in Thornton-le-Dale. The move was a response to the 2007 to 2009 recession, and in particular to retail customers not turning up to viewings. "We did sell a few cars, but what was really getting us down was that so many people were not showing up to viewings, messing us about, that sort of thing," Derek Mathewson told Classic & Sports Car in 2022.

Classic cars lined up outside the Mathewsons premises in Thornton-le-Dale — The Mathewsons premises in the middle of Thornton-le-Dale.

From Thornton-le-Dale to Pickering

As the auctions grew, today around nine sales a year, handling some 4,000 vehicles, the business outgrew the village. The auctions and head office are now a couple of miles away at Unit 10, Enterprise Way, Thornton Road, Pickering, YO18 7NA, with the warehouses of cars that fill each sale. Thornton-le-Dale remains the historical heart, though: the Mathewsons gift shop and museum are here at Roxby Garage on Pickering Road, where a selection of Derek's favourites can be seen in one of the showrooms. If you've come to the village hoping to see cars, the museum is your stop; if you want to see the sale cars at Pickering, go during the six-day viewing period before a sale, when a free shuttle bus runs between the two on weekdays. The auctions themselves are not open to the general public.

Interior of the Mathewsons Museum in Thornton-le-Dale with a changing display of classic cars — Inside the museum, where the display of classic cars changes regularly.

Derek Mathewson

Derek Mathewson is the founder and figurehead of the business and the familiar face of Bangers & Cash. A car trader since 1970, he built his reputation on an old-school philosophy that has become the show's charm: value originality over heavy restoration, treat every vehicle as a piece of living history, and give a humble Austin the same care as a six-figure Aston Martin, Astons being a particular passion, several of his own forming the heart of the museum. He bought one of them, an Aston Martin DB6, from a salvage yard in Luton in the late 1980s for £5,000, and was offered £85,000 for it within five years. The trade in classics is not unbroken, either: frustrated by misdescribed vehicles and by cars being exported, he stopped trading classics during the 1980s, returning in the mid-1990s with his sons. For much of its history, Classic & Sports Car noted, the firm was the only auctioneer of entry-level classics in Yorkshire.

The family and the team

The business is genuinely family-run. Derek's sons Dave and Paul Mathewson work alongside him and feature throughout Bangers & Cash, out on the road valuing and collecting cars, and back at the saleroom running the auctions, along with the wider Mathewsons team who bring the show its warmth and humour. It's that real family-firm authenticity, rather than any script, that made the series a hit.

Bangers & Cash, the TV series

Bangers & Cash was first broadcast at 8pm on Thursday 18 April 2019, on UKTV's Yesterday channel, and is made by Air TV. It follows the Mathewsons family as they track down, collect and auction classic and vintage vehicles across the country. Its unfussy, affectionate look at the classic-car trade struck a chord, and the spin-off, Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics, first broadcast on 21 July 2022. Series 13 began in February 2026; in July 2025 UKTV ordered a further four series, its largest single order, taking the show into 2028 and past 200 episodes. Since January 2026 it has also been available on Channel 4's streaming service. The show put both Mathewsons and Thornton-le-Dale on the map for a whole new audience.

A classic red sports car on the Mathewsons turntable, of the kind sold at a Mathewsons classic-car auction — Cars are photographed on the turntable ahead of a sale.

Visiting Mathewsons

Planning a visit? See our Bangers & Cash day out for a full itinerary of the museum, the village, lunch and the afternoon.

Two places, two different visits. In Thornton-le-Dale, the gift shop and the Mathewsons Museum at Roxby Garage on Pickering Road let you see a selection of Derek's favourites in one of the showrooms, in the village where it all began. Entry to the museum is £2.50 per person. Mathewsons' own Planning a Visit page states that the Thornton-le-Dale site is open seven days a week, 9am to 4pm. Mathewsons have published differing sets of hours across their own website; in practice the hours are looser than that and flex with how busy the village is, so ring 01751 474455 if you are making a special journey for it. The auctions are held at the Pickering saleroom, about a mile and a half away and not a walk from the village, and are not open to the general public; on sale day the site is closed to visitors. What you can attend is the six-day viewing period before each sale, running Wednesday to Tuesday and closed on Sundays, with hours of Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 12 noon. Entry is £5 per person, which includes a donation to one of Mathewsons' chosen charities: Martin House Children's Hospice, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Mille Wright Children Charity, the business's own spelling; how the money is divided between them is not published. Outside advertised viewing periods the Pickering site is not open for general browsing, and private viewings must be arranged in advance. A free shuttle bus links Thornton-le-Dale, the Pickering auction site and Eastgate car park in Pickering on weekdays during the viewing period, so you can base yourself in the village and still see the cars; its times and pick-up points are not published here. If you want to see the cars at Pickering, plan around a viewing day. Prices, dates, opening times and shuttle arrangements change, so check the Mathewsons website or ask Mathewsons directly before you set off.

Making a day of it? The beck, green and thatched cottage are all on the village page, with lunch or tea from the eating and drinking guide, parking guidance on the visitor information page, and local cottages on where to stay.

The classics that cross the block

If Bangers & Cash has given you a soft spot for a particular marque, you might enjoy our sister classic-car archives, closer looks at the cars themselves, written by a fellow enthusiast: the AC Aceca, MG T-Series, Triumph Stag and Jaguar Mk2 archives. They're the kinds of classics that cross Mathewsons' block every year.

Common questions

Where is Bangers & Cash filmed?: At Mathewsons, the family classic-car auctioneers. The business's historical home and museum are in Thornton-le-Dale, while the auctions are now filmed at their Pickering site.
Who is Derek Mathewson?: The founder of Mathewsons and the face of Bangers & Cash, a Yorkshire classic-car auctioneer trading since 1970, known for valuing originality and treating every car as living history.
Who are the Mathewsons on Bangers & Cash?: Founder Derek Mathewson and his sons Dave and Paul, who run the auctions and go out collecting cars, along with the wider Mathewsons team.
Can you visit Mathewsons in Thornton-le-Dale?: Yes. The gift shop and the Mathewsons Museum are at Roxby Garage on Pickering Road in the village, with a selection of Derek's favourites in one of the showrooms. Museum entry is £2.50 per person, correct at the time of writing, so check before you travel. The auctions are held at the Pickering site; check mathewsons.co.uk for current opening and auction dates.
When did Bangers & Cash start?: It was first broadcast at 8pm on Thursday 18 April 2019 on UKTV's Yesterday channel, and is made by Air TV. Series 13 began in February 2026, with UKTV's July 2025 order of a further four series taking the show into 2028 and past 200 episodes, and the Restoring Classics spin-off first broadcast on 21 July 2022. Since January 2026 it has also been on Channel 4's streaming service.
Where are Mathewsons auctions held now?: At the Pickering site, Unit 10, Enterprise Way, Thornton Road, Pickering, YO18 7NA, which is also the head office. Thornton-le-Dale keeps the gift shop and museum at Roxby Garage.
Can you watch a Mathewsons auction?: No, the auctions themselves at the Pickering site are not open to the general public. What visitors can attend is the six-day viewing period held before each sale, running Wednesday to Tuesday and closed on Sundays, which costs £5 per person and includes a donation to charity, correct at the time of writing. Viewing hours are Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 12 noon; the site is closed to visitors on auction days. Check current viewing dates with Mathewsons before you travel.
Is there a bus from Thornton-le-Dale to Mathewsons at Pickering?: Yes, on weekdays during the viewing period before each sale. A free shuttle bus links Thornton-le-Dale, the Pickering auction site and Eastgate car park in Pickering, so visitors staying in the village can see the cars without driving. It does not run on auction days, which are not open to the public anyway. Times and pick-up arrangements are not published here, so check the current details with Mathewsons directly before you set off.
Where is Bangers & Cash located?: Mathewsons' gift shop and museum are at Roxby Garage, Pickering Road, Thornton-le-Dale, North Yorkshire. The working auctions are held at the Mathewsons site on Enterprise Way, Pickering, YO18 7NA, about a mile and a half away, with a free shuttle bus running between the two on weekdays during the viewing period. Both sit close to the A170 between Pickering and Scarborough.
Is Mathewsons still in Thornton-le-Dale?: Yes. The gift shop and the Mathewsons Museum remain in the village at Roxby Garage, while the auctions and head office are at the larger Pickering site.
Is the Mathewsons museum accessible, and can I take my dog?: The museum entrance is up steps, and Mathewsons' own sign warns that they are steep, so it will not suit everyone. Dogs are not permitted inside the museum, to protect the exhibits, though they are welcome around the village. Accompanied, well-behaved children are welcome. These are the rules the museum publishes on its own boards at the entrance; check with Mathewsons if you have a specific need.

The dates and early history on this page come from the Mathewsons entry in the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs Trade Supporters Directory, which is the business's own copy, and from Charlie Calderwood's interview with Derek Mathewson in Classic & Sports Car, 5 December 2022. Broadcast dates come from Air TV, the show's production company. Prices and opening times were checked with Mathewsons' own website and in person in September 2026.