Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Leicester
Leicester firms tend to move for floor space. A clothing workshop that started in a converted inner city building outgrows the stairs and the loading bay and takes a unit at Braunstone Frith or Beaumont Leys. A distribution business that has run out of racking in an old shed takes a bigger one along the M1 near Enderby. In both cases some of the equipment is not worth taking.
Old cutting tables, presses that are the wrong size for the new work, racking cut to fit the old shed and a forklift that will not pass the new insurer's inspection all stay behind. We catalogue them where they stand, sell them by online timed auction and arrange collection after you have moved out.
Downsizing is the same job with a shorter list of what moves. Tell us the date the old premises go back and we plan the sale from there.
Moving out of the older textile streets
The older clothing and textile premises in the east and west of the city were not built for lorries, so the first visit settles what is possible. We check the gate, the street, the yard if there is one, the stair or the lift, the door sizes and the floor levels. Removal arrangements then follow the weight and the dimensions of each machine and the route out, with suitable handling equipment or specialist assistance where it is needed. A fusing press or a large cutting machine on an upper floor needs planning before it is anything else, and the catalogue says so, so buyers price it in.
We will also tell you when it is cheaper to let us collect and sell an item from our own premises than to run a viewing on a cramped floor. Sewing plant suits the trade in Leicester itself and workshops in Hinckley and Wigston, and bidding is online and open from anywhere in the UK.
Racking and forklifts from the corridor sheds
Distribution firms moving between sheds around Enderby and Lutterworth usually leave the racking. It was cut and bolted for the old floor, and a new fit out often costs less than dismantling and rebuilding it. We sell racking in runs, by bay, so that a smaller operator in Coalville or Market Harborough can buy a few bays and a bigger one can take the lot. Mezzanine floors sell the same way, with the buyer responsible for dismantling under our supervision.
Forklifts, pallet wrappers, charger units and labelling machines are easy lots. What a yard will take is checked before collection is planned, and the catalogue says which lots need a larger vehicle or a permit. The M1 and M69 put the West Midlands and the whole of the East Midlands within an hour of a viewing day, and bidding is online and open across the UK.
If the new shed is not ready on time, we can hold the sale close date back a week. Tell us early.
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 Leicester
- We are moving from an inner city workshop to a unit on an estate. Can you sell the old kit before the lease ends?
Yes. We catalogue while you are still working, then run the online auction so it closes a week or two before the keys go back. Collection days follow straight after. On an older textile street we plan collection around the access, with vans for the light lots and specialist handling for anything heavy on an upper floor. If the timetable is tight, we can collect the lots ourselves and sell them from our own premises instead.
- Our new shed near the M1 is bigger, so why would we sell the racking?
Racking is cut and configured for one floor. Moving it means dismantling and a fresh installation, and a used run may not match the new bay layout. Weigh those costs against what the old run is likely to make, and the sums often favour selling it in place and fitting new in the bigger shed. We sell it by run or by bay so that buyers from Loughborough to Lutterworth can take what they need. You keep the forklifts and the pallet trucks if they suit the new site.
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.