Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Bradford
In Bradford the building decides half the sale before we see a machine. A firm moving out of a mill on Canal Road or in the streets around Bowling Back Lane to a modern unit near the M606 is leaving behind a floor of machinery that came in through a loading door forty years ago and has not moved since. Some of it is on the second floor, and the yard and the approach decide what can reach the door.
We start with the route out. Which lots can go down the hoist, and which need a crane in the street. Then we catalogue and sell by online timed auction, with the heavy lots given collection slots that match the rigging plan.
Food manufacturers, printers and packaging firms move for different reasons and from easier buildings, and their sales run in the usual way.
Getting machines down from an upper mill floor
A dyeing or finishing range on a first floor is a rigging job before it is anything else. So is a printing press. The buyer arranges and pays for the removal, and the catalogue has to tell them how the lot comes out, so we do that work up front. We measure the doors, the stair, the hoist capacity and the yard, and we note where a crane can stand and where the road is too narrow for a low loader. That goes in the lot description.
Textile machinery is bought by a narrower trade than it once was, and much of the interest comes from outside the UK. We photograph it well and describe it fully, because the bidder may be a long way away. Warping, winding, spinning and finishing plant that can be run without risk stays connected for the viewing day, so your staff can demonstrate it where that is agreed.
The mill itself often has old boilers, compressors, hoists and workshop tooling worth selling on the way out.
Bakery and packing lines moving to the motorway
Food producers around Euroway and Staithgate Lane move for capacity. The new unit gets a new line and the old one goes to auction. Ovens, provers, mixers, depositors, flow wrappers, labelling and coding machines and the stainless tables between them are used by food firms across the north, and the trade in Halifax, Huddersfield, Keighley and Leeds is half an hour from a viewing day. Refrigeration is sold in place with the buyer removing it, and we list whether the compressors are staying with the building.
Printers and packaging firms leave presses, guillotines, folders and platens. These are heavy for their size, and we set the collection days after the rigging plan is agreed.
We check the roads, the yard, the loading and the door sizes at each site before collection is planned, and the catalogue says what each heavy lot needs.
What these sales can include
- CNC machine tools
- Presses and press brakes
- Racking and mezzanine floors
- Forklift trucks
- Air compressors
- Workshop tooling and hand tools
- Office furniture and desks
- IT equipment and servers
- Packing and labelling machines
- Welding equipment
- Extraction and dust collection systems
- Vans and light commercial vehicles
How the sale runs
We visit the site, list the lots and photograph them in place. You tell us which items are moving and which are for sale, and we tag the sale lots so there is no confusion on the shop floor.
The catalogue goes online as a timed auction. Bidding stays open for a set period, usually one to two weeks, and each lot closes at a fixed time with an extension if a bid arrives in the last minutes. We hold a viewing day at your premises, and lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, with buyers expected to inspect first.
After the sale we invoice the buyers and take payment. You are paid once the sale is reconciled and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds, less the agreed commission and any agreed costs. Buyers arrange and pay for removal, and our staff attend to release lots against paid invoices.
The business relocation and downsizing sales page covers when a relocation sale makes sense, timing the sale around the move, what to prepare, valuation and reserves, unsold lots and leftovers.
Questions about selling in Bradford
- Our mill has a steep yard and a hoist that only takes a tonne. Will anyone bid on the heavy machines?
Yes, if the catalogue is honest about the route out. Removal arrangements depend on the weight and dimensions of each machine, the route out and the building, and the buyer arranges and pays for them, with suitable handling equipment or specialist help where it is needed. We put the access, the floor loading and the hoist limit in the description so that work can be priced before bidding, and we set the collection window long enough for a crane to be booked where one is required.
- We are downsizing from three mill floors to one. Can the sale run while we keep trading?
It can, and it usually does. We tag the lots on the floors you are leaving and keep the working floor out of the catalogue. Viewing is on one day with your staff on hand, and collection is arranged so that the riggers use the yard and the hoist when your deliveries are not. The sale closes on a date you choose, so the empty floors go back to the landlord clear and the working floor never stops.
More questions about relocation sales
Related services
Guides
- Closing a business: a timeline for selling the assets
Work backwards from the day you hand the site over. This guide covers lease end and dilapidations, when to instruct, when staff should leave, when to keep the power on, and how to leave enough room for collection and making good.
- Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Fleet sales turn on paperwork as much as on price. This guide covers the V5C, MOT and plating documents, clearing finance before listing, keys and livery, recording mileage and tachograph data, and how to defleet in batches while still trading.