OLIVER Dall is a self-confessed Slytherin. His wand was hand selected in Japan. He is wearing the official green and silver Slytherin scarf, and a cap emblazoned with the house crest. The Dark Mark is tattooed on his wrist, writes Laurie Churchman.

He is a wizard. He is also the “obsessive” owner of Oliver’s, Brighton’s Harry Potter shop.

From its quaint Trafalgar Street premises, the store has been supplying the city with wizard wheezes for almost two years.

Oliver shows me around. He works six days a week, and lives above the shop: Harry Potter is his life. He talks about how he was “sorted” - chosen for the Slytherin school house.

“I’ve been sorted many times,” he says. “Most of our customers are very house proud. They’re as young as four and as old as 90.

“We get a lot of Gryffindors, but most people embrace whatever house they fall into, and we’ve got merchandise for all of them.”

It’s true: there’s a lot of stuff. Cabinets groan with models of Hedwig, Cornish pixies, and Harry’s official glasses. There’s Godric Gryffindor’s sword, wizard’s chess, the Triwizard trophy.

There’s Dumbledore’s poisoned chalice, Rowena Ravenclaw’s tiara and a mini-fridge stocked with butterbeer.

I long for Witch Weekly journalist Rita Skeeter’s quick quotes quill to take it all down.

There are full-sized broomsticks: Malfoy’s Nimbus 2001 hangs on the wall, and Harry’s £300 Firebolt rests on a shelf.

A customer walks out with a box containing Lucius Malfoy’s cane.

“Fans walk in and gasp,” Oliver says.

Behind the counter, there are boxes of wands.

“This is really the reason people come”, Oliver says. He stocks the official wands from the film, based on the original moulds.

There are 70 in the collection, from Voldemort’s bony wand to Ron’s gnarled twig. Oliver’s own wand was chosen for him at the Harry Potter studios in Osaka.

But what makes someone go half way around the world to get their hands on Harry Potter merchandise? Why do people come to Oliver’s shop?

More than 20 years after the first book, what’s the appeal of Harry Potter now?

Oliver says: “It’s the escapism. It’s another world, so magical that anything can happen. A large percentage of our customers have autism, and many have had challenging lives. It’s the fantasy, the pure magic of it, the warmth and comfort of having grown up with these characters.

“They’re amazing role models. Look at Harry: he goes from living in a cupboard under the stairs to riding on the back of a hippogriff.

“He goes from having a terrible life to a magical adventure.

“And there’s no way people can forget it. It’s always in the news, what with the Cursed Child, the studios, and Fantastic Beasts.”

Oliver’s is the city’s only shop selling exclusively Harry Potter merchandise. He says he designed the place in a Victorian style, and because the store is freehold, he has been able to make it the shop of his dreams.

He lifts Harry’s Firebolt off the shelf, puts on his custom-made robe, and poses for a picture.

His wizarding self-portrait hangs on the wall behind him. I half-expect the figure to wander off. In the frame, he’s holding his “living patronus”: his pet Neverland Dwarf rabbit, Luna Lepor.

Oliver is full of surprises.

He shows me a box of every flavour beans. They come in sausage, dirt, vomit, and bogey flavours.

Then he leans on a bookcase, which creaks open to reveal a secret toilet.

He won the city’s business award for the best start-up in 2018, and the shelves are filling up with magical new products all the time. Earlier this year he took part in a charity skydive dressed as a warlock. Who knows what’s next?

Oliver could have anything up his sleeve.

Oliver's Brighton is not affiliated with the Harry Potter franchise, J.K. Rowling or Warner Bros.