Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Stoke-on-Trent
A pottery that moves takes its moulds and its people and leaves its kilns. That is the pattern for most ceramics relocations in the six towns, because a kiln built into one factory rarely justifies the cost of stripping and rebuilding in another, and the newer units at Trentham Lakes and Etruria Valley are fitted out around new plant. The same is true for tile presses, glaze lines, spray booths and the older filter presses in the clay end.
We sell what the move leaves by online timed auction. Distribution firms along the A500 and A50 come to us with racking and forklifts. Plastics and engineering shops at Fenton and Parkhall come with moulding machines and machine tools. Each sale is catalogued in place, viewed on one day and collected after you have gone.
Downsizing raises the same questions with a firmer date, and we plan back from it.
Kilns and ceramic plant that stay in the old factory
Kilns, whether tunnel, shuttle, top hat or intermittent, are the lots that need the most thought. Some suit other potteries or tile and technical ceramics firms as a dismantle and remove lot. Some are only worth their refractory and steel. We give a view on each one at the first visit and say which we think it is. The estimate is an opinion, and the auction decides.
Jiggers, jolleys, casting benches, pug mills, ball mills and spray booths are used more widely, by the trade in Stoke itself and by studio potteries that bid online from across the UK. Moulds are catalogued where they are generic and usually kept where they are the firm's own shapes.
Glaze and clay stock can be sold if it is labelled and sealed. Anything without a label goes for what a buyer will offer for it as a job lot.
Collection days set by what the yard allows
We check the access road, the yard and the loading door at each site before the collection plan is written, at Festival Park and Tunstall Trade Park as much as on the A50. What we find sets the size of the collection window, and a short one is what a landlord wants to see on the handback date.
The trade in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Crewe, Leek and Uttoxeter is a short trip from the viewing day, and the A500 puts both ends of the M6 within twenty minutes. Buyers from further away bid online and send their own haulier.
We work the timetable back from the day the old premises go back. Viewing is one day, and the collection window is sized from the heavy lots and the access, so the site is cleared with time for making good. If the new unit slips, tell us before the catalogue goes live.
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 Stoke-on-Trent
- Our kiln is built into the factory. Is it a saleable lot or a demolition job?
It can be either, and we will say which after we have looked at it. A shuttle or top hat kiln in working order, with its controls, is a saleable lot to another ceramics firm and can be sold in place for the buyer to dismantle. A tunnel kiln in an old building is more often worth its steel and refractory. We give you our honest opinion and set the reserve to match, so it does not sit unsold.
- We are moving our distribution shed from the A500 to a bigger one on the A50. What sells?
The racking and the mezzanine are usually offered in place, because a new fit out often costs less than dismantling and rebuilding them. Older forklifts that will not pass into the new fleet contract, pallet wrappers, conveyors and the odd shrink tunnel all go. Office furniture and IT from the old shed can go in the same catalogue. We tag what you are keeping on the day of our visit so nothing is listed by mistake.
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.