Lesley Kiddell-Spencer is a British antique dealer, disability advocate and television expert who joined BBC One’s Bargain Hunt in 2025. She is also known for her work supporting deaf and disabled people, giving her career a wider dimension than television and antiques alone.
Born in May 1960, Kiddell-Spencer is 66 as of October 12, 2026. She became deaf at the age of seven after contracting meningitis, according to biographical information published about her. Her experience of deafness has informed decades of campaigning, public service and community work.
Who is Lesley Kiddell-Spencer?
Lesley Kiddell-Spencer is an antiques professional from England who runs or works through Lesley’s Loft, an antiques business associated with Northamptonshire. Her television profile grew after she became one of the experts on Bargain Hunt, the BBC programme in which teams buy items at antiques fairs before taking them to auction.
Her background is unusual among television antiques experts because it combines dealing and collecting with a long record in disability advocacy. Before her television appearances, she held senior roles in organisations working with deaf people and others with disabilities.
She has also been associated with Antiques Roadshow. However, Bargain Hunt is the programme most closely linked with her recent television work and the role that has introduced her to a broader audience.
How old is Lesley Kiddell-Spencer?
Lesley Kiddell-Spencer was born in May 1960. That makes her 66 during May 2026 and throughout the remainder of the year, although the exact day of her birth has not been widely published.
Public records also identify her as British and resident in England. Beyond her birth month and year, she has generally kept personal details such as her family life and exact date of birth out of the public spotlight.
Why is Lesley Kiddell-Spencer deaf?
Kiddell-Spencer is deaf. Published biographies state that she lost her hearing at the age of seven after meningitis, a serious infection that can sometimes cause permanent hearing loss.
Her deafness is not simply a biographical detail. It has been central to much of her working life. She has held leadership and advisory positions connected with deaf people, communication access and disability services, and she has represented voluntary-sector interests in public bodies.
Her television work also offers a visible example of a deaf professional working in a field that depends heavily on communication, observation and specialist knowledge. That distinction matters: her role on an antiques programme is based on her expertise as a dealer and adviser, while her advocacy work reflects a separate but closely connected part of her life.
When did Lesley Kiddell-Spencer join Bargain Hunt?
Lesley Kiddell-Spencer joined the Bargain Hunt expert team in 2025. The programme features antiques dealers who help contestants assess objects, negotiate purchases and make decisions before auction.
Her contribution is rooted in practical dealing experience rather than celebrity. As with other experts on the programme, her role involves identifying potentially valuable or interesting pieces and helping contestants understand the risks of buying at an antiques fair.
That advice can cover several areas, including:
- the age and provenance of an object;
- its condition and whether restoration may affect its value;
- the likely appeal of the item at auction;
- whether the purchase price leaves room for a profit; and
- the difference between an attractive object and a commercially strong one.
Television antiques programmes often make buying and selling look straightforward, but auction results are unpredictable. A purchase that appears promising may sell for less than expected, while an overlooked object can attract competitive bidding. Kiddell-Spencer’s experience gives her a useful perspective on that uncertainty.
What is Lesley Kiddell-Spencer’s antiques business?
Kiddell-Spencer is linked with Lesley’s Loft, an antiques business in Northamptonshire. The business is associated with the sale and appreciation of antique and vintage items, reflecting her work away from television.
Her experience as a dealer helps explain why she is suited to Bargain Hunt. The programme requires experts to combine historical knowledge with a realistic understanding of prices, condition and buyer demand. Dealers must also be able to communicate quickly and clearly, particularly when contestants have limited time to choose their purchases.
Although television has raised her profile, there is no indication that it represents the whole of her professional identity. Her antiques work sits alongside a substantial record of public-service and voluntary-sector involvement.
What has Lesley Kiddell-Spencer done for the deaf community?
Kiddell-Spencer has spent much of her career working with deaf and disabled people. Her listed roles include service as a trustee and board director of the British Deaf Association from 2005 to 2010. Companies House records also show that she was appointed a director of the organisation in January 2006 and resigned in November 2010.
She previously chaired the Federation of Deaf People and worked as a trustee for Ability Northants, an organisation connected with disabled people. She has also been involved with the National Registers of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deafblind People.
Her public and community work has included representation on local authority committees dealing with social care, health, equality and diversity. She has also held roles connected with the voluntary sector at Northampton General Hospital.
This background is important when considering her public profile. Kiddell-Spencer is not known only because she became a television personality. Her work in advocacy began long before her appearance on Bargain Hunt and includes management, advisory and governance responsibilities.
What did Lesley Kiddell-Spencer do before television?
Her early career included work as a clerical officer at NatWest. She later became a youth worker with Birmingham City Council and an information officer at Leicester Deaf Centre.
From 2000 to 2009, she served as chief executive of deafconnect. She subsequently worked as an employment adviser, project leader and project manager in organisations supporting employment, disability services and community information.
Her career path shows a gradual move from administrative and community roles into leadership. It also helps explain the breadth of her interests. She has worked with employment services, public bodies, charities and communication professionals, rather than following a single-track route into antiques.
Outside those formal roles, Kiddell-Spencer has reportedly led guided tours for deaf visitors at the Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester. That activity brings together her interest in history, public engagement and accessibility.
Is Lesley Kiddell-Spencer active on social media?
An Instagram account associated with her antiques work uses the handle @antiques.lesleysloft. It is presented as a business-focused account connected with Lesley’s Loft and antiques.
Readers should distinguish between an account linked to a business and a verified personal profile. Social-media listings can change, and not every account using a person’s name is necessarily official.
What is known about Lesley Kiddell-Spencer’s personal life?
Reliable public information about Kiddell-Spencer’s family life, relationships and private circumstances is limited. Most available biographical material focuses on her career, deafness, advocacy and antiques work.
That limited information should not be filled with speculation. Her age, professional background and television role are reasonably clear, while details about her family or relationships have not been established in the same way.
Her public story is therefore best understood through the work she has chosen to make visible: a long career supporting deaf and disabled people, leadership in the voluntary sector, antiques dealing and her role as a Bargain Hunt expert.
Lesley Kiddell-Spencer’s journey combines specialist knowledge with public service. She was born in May 1960, became deaf after meningitis during childhood and went on to build a career that included senior disability-sector positions before entering the television antiques world. Her arrival on Bargain Hunt in 2025 added a new chapter, but it forms only one part of a much longer professional record.
