Clive Emson Land and Property Auctioneers is celebrating a double success – reporting sales of £16 million at the June auction in a week when the firm’s founder was honoured by the Queen.
Britain’s largest independent regional land and property auctioneer achieved a sale rate of 80 per cent at the sale after cataloguing 136 lots.
The auction – the fourth of eight sales this year – took place across five days in five venues from June 10-14.
Clive Emson, who founded the Kent-based firm in 1989 and remains its Chairman, was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours for services to vulnerable and disadvantaged young people.
He is President, and a former Chairman, of The Young Lives Foundation (YLF), an independent children’s charity which helps thousands of youngsters every year.
Modest Clive, who says he is just a figurehead for the organisation, has been carrying out charity work for 20 years, using his vast experience, support and guidance to make a positive impact on the lives of young people in Kent.
The YLF delivers tailored services to vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people for effective outcomes and around 200 volunteers work with 3,500 children a year.
Veteran auctioneer Clive, now 72, also conducts many charity sales at business events and conferences throughout the year.
His son James, Managing Director of Clive Emson Land and Property Auctioneers, said: “We are immensely proud of dad – without his vision all those years ago we would not be the successful business we are today.
“We have not wavered from his original ethos – that the auction process must be honest and utterly transparent – during the past 30 years and that has stood us in good stead as we continue to innovate to provide the best possible service.
“Our June auction is a perfect example of what we stand for – packed salerooms, an excellent range of lots right across the board and great deals for both vendors and purchasers.”
Highlights of the June auction included:
- The Dog & Gun pub a traditional community hostelry with potential close to Maidstone town centre sold for £385,000 after a bidding war.
- The Cliff Hotel in Penzance, base of the Norwegian Prime Minister in exile Johan Nygaardsvold during the Second World War sold for £280,000 freehold after coming to market for the first time in 90 years.
- A freehold block of 11 vacant lock-up garages on a 0.12-acre site with potential in Farnborough went under the auctioneer’s hammer for £92,000 in a bidding war.
- The ground floor of the landmark Luxor building – dating back to the 1940s and formerly known as The Luxor Cinema – in Lancing, Sussex, sold for £355,000 on a 999-year lease as a fully let investment property generating £36,250 per annum.
- A pair of half-finished semi-detached houses on Canvey Island, Essex, went for £300,000 freehold after strong interest from developers.
The firm holds a regional auction at five locations every six weeks. The fifth sale of 2019, starting at 11am, is at the following venues:
Essex & North and East London – Monday, July 22 at the Chelmsford City Racecourse, Chelmsford.
Kent & SE London – Tuesday, July 23 at the Clive Emson Conference Centre, Detling, Maidstone, Kent.
Sussex & Surrey – Wednesday, July 24 at the Hilton Brighton Metropole, Brighton.
West Country – Thursday, July 25, at the St Mellion International Resort, Saltash.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight – Friday, July 26 at the Solent Hotel at Whiteley, near Fareham.
Clive Emson also stages a fixed date, online only auction. The next one concludes on August 1. Full details can be found at www.cliveemson.co.uk.