A total of 175 lots across southern England has been unveiled by Clive Emson Auctioneers for the firm’s milestone 250th auction in June. They include this cliffside chalet-style bungalow which featured in TV’s Poldark, the historical Cornish mining drama series. With “breathtaking views”, the property overlooks Porthcurno beach and the famous Minack open air theatre; the residence is at St Levan, near Penzance, Cornwall, and has a guide price of £395,000-plus (lot 69). Viewers by appointment are asked to first meet in the Porthcurno beach car park, where they will be accompanied to the property; smugglers’ lanterns are not required nor is the coast required to be clear. The car park can be located via the What3Words app using invent.lightens.minds. There have been more than £3 billion in sales for clients since the firm’s first auction 35 years ago.
A total of 175 lots across southern England has been unveiled by Clive Emson Auctioneers for the firm’s milestone 250th auction.
The regional land and property auctioneering firm was founded in October 1989 by now-chairman Clive Emson MBE, with more than £3 billion in sales since then for clients.
James Emson, Managing Director, said: “It is difficult to convey how proud we all of are of what has been achieved since my father set up the business in October 1989, with the first auction in December that year listing 24 lots and members of the family posting stapled auction catalogues through letterboxes, complementing marketing campaigns over the phone in the pre-internet age.
“Over the years we expanded from our Kent headquarters in Maidstone and have five offices covering southern England, from Kent, London, Essex and Norfolk to Cornwall and the Isle of Wight and well above the M4 corridor.
“We are now one of the leading land and property auctioneers in the UK, with a strong digital focus and offering more than 1,000 lots from eight auctions each year, with a team of 30-plus experienced employees. Our commitment to quality, honesty and service remains unchanged.
“Over the decades we have not wavered in our ethos in running a high-profile auction facility for everyone wishing to sell/buy land and property of all shapes, sizes and values, whilst maintaining a commitment to quality and service, with more than £3 billion worth of property and land sold for clients.
“Run by highly knowledgeable auctioneers, we provide unbiased property auction appraisals for everyone, including executors, power of attorneys, local authorities and statutory bodies, private and limited companies, receivers and private individuals.
“Furthermore, we have relentlessly focused on innovation to make the process as convenient and informed for sellers and buyers alike, with our latest website iteration featuring click-and-book facilities for viewings as well as a password-protected sign-in facility to view legal documents for each lot. Our branded YouTube videos of lots, with tours of properties inside and out, are also proving popular.
“Nearly 16,500 people visited our website and online bidding platform on the last day of our May auction, with £18 million-plus in property value raised for our clients. Significantly, website traffic came from 54 different countries in our previous auction, meaning local lots have global appeal.
“We are grateful to our clients for their loyal custom, with many repeat instructions over the years, and also to the 800 estate agents which provide a joint agent service with us.”
Since 1989 the firm has sold tens of thousands of lots including houses, flats, shops, offices, warehouses, factories, garages, barns, underground bunkers, sea forts, water towers, colliery buildings, pubs, hotels, former places of worship, woodland and development and grazing land.
Two years ago, the company set a new record with the highest price achieved outside of London in an online auction – a commercial lot in Purfleet, Grays, Essex, sold for £5.4 million in a bidding war; the client was a local authority.
Clive, the founder auctioneer, was awarded an MBE in 2019 for services to vulnerable and disadvantaged young people in his home county of Kent; he is well-known for his catchphrase of “we bid you well” and playful sense of humour at the charity auctions he conducts.
The latest auction – the fourth of eight this year – ends on 12 June, with bidding live from 10 June.
Of the 175 lots listed, 75 are vacant residential, 35 residential investment, 31 commercial property, 19 development/conversion land 15 grazing/land.
Highlights include a cliffside chalet-style bungalow which featured in TV’s Poldark, the historical drama series involving Cornish mining families.
With “breathtaking views”, the property overlooks Porthcurno beach and the famous Minack open air theatre; the property at St Levan, near Penzance, has a guide price of £395,000-plus (lot 69).
With a guide price of £800,000-plus, a terraced five-storey building with offices overlooking the harbour and sea in Torquay, Devon, has planning consent for conversion into 12 apartments (lot 89).
North Street House, a former doctors’ surgery in the fishing village of Emsworth, near Portsmouth, with planning permission for redevelopment into a hotel and café, has a guide price of £895,000-plus (lot 40).
Also in Hampshire, a four-storey residence in Winchester city centre is guided at £470,000 – £490,000; previously in use as temporary housing, the accommodation is currently arranged as several bedsit/letting rooms (lot 170).
Guided at £300,000-plus is a block of flats at St George’s Hall in George Street, Sandown, Isle of Wight, which is being sold with vacant possession; the property, with four two-bedroom flats, was let to a housing association (lot 171).
A 1.71-acre development site near Helston, Cornwall, with the sandy beach of Praa Sands 2.5 miles away, has planning permission for 14 dwellings. Guide price: £485,000-plus (lot 153).
A detached bungalow at Wandle Bank, Beddington, Croydon, with outbuildings and land, requires refurbishment or redevelopment, with a guide price of £400,000 – £425,000 (lot 154).
In Ramsgate, Kent, a two-bedroom detached property in grounds of 3.5 acres, with outbuildings and stables, and believed to date back to 1714, is guided at £600,000-plus (lot 107). A dilapidated barn is thought to date back to the 1400s. Video:
A major commercial property in Eastbourne, East Sussex, let at £27,000 plus vat pa, has residential conversion consent for offices on the upper floors to become six flats. Guide price: £550,000 to £570,000 (lot 72).
With yurts on site, a four-bedroom period cottage at Compton Chamberlayne, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, has a guide price of £250,000-plus and is called Sahaja, meaning ‘spontaneous enlightenment’. The property previously served as a yoga and meditation retreat (lot 126).