Britannia AuctionsBusiness retirement auctions in Northampton
Northampton still makes shoes. Not on the scale it once did, but there are factories in the town with closing rooms, lasting machines, presses and finishing lines. If you are retiring and selling that equipment rather than transferring the business, it goes into one sale. The same applies to the haulage and pallet firms on Brackmills and Swan Valley, and to the engineers and print firms on Moulton Park and Round Spinney.
Our job is to turn all of it into money on a fixed date. We catalogue on site, sell online over a week or two with a viewing day, and run the collection window. Buyers pay us, and we account to you once collection is done and the funds have cleared. Start with the contact form and tell us roughly what you have.
Shoe factories and the machines left behind
Footwear machinery is specialist, and that cuts both ways. The market is narrow, but the buyers who exist know exactly what they want. Closing room sewing machines, skiving and splitting machines, clicking presses and cutting knives, lasting machines, sole presses and finishing kit all have a trade that uses them, in the town itself and in the smaller shoe firms around the county. Lasts, patterns and knives sell too, and so do stocks of leather and components.
Because the market is narrow, we reach further for it. Online bidding brings in factories and repairers from across the UK and, for the right machines, buyers overseas. We photograph makers' plates and serial numbers, note the machine's condition truthfully, and give a view on likely prices that is an opinion, not a promise.
The general lots in a shoe factory, compressors, racking, benches, forklifts, office furniture and the canteen, suit a wide range of trade buyers, and the viewing day is held at the premises.
Older estates near the town centre and the quarter day
The trade counters and vehicle workshops on the older estates near the town centre are the more usual retirement sale. A garage with two lifts, a brake tester, a compressor and a wall of tools. A builders' merchant with racking, a forklift, a saw bench and a yard of stock. These units were built before the big sheds, so we check the door dimensions, the yard, the road and the parking during our first visit and put what we find in the catalogue.
Rent on most units falls due on the quarter days. If you are giving notice, a sale that closes two weeks before the quarter day and hands the unit back after collection can save a quarter's rent, which is worth weighing when the dates are set. Wellingborough, Kettering, Daventry and Rugby are near enough to come and see the lots, and the M1 makes it straightforward for a buyer further away to send a haulier.
What these sales can include
- Workshop machinery
- Hand and power tools
- Vans and company vehicles
- Trade stock and consumables
- Racking and storage
- Forklifts and pallet trucks
- Office furniture and IT
- Welding and fabrication equipment
- Compressors and generators
- Vehicle lifts and garage equipment
- Catering and canteen equipment
- Signage and shop fittings
How the sale runs
It starts with a conversation. We ask what you have, where it is, and when you need it gone. Then we visit, walk the premises with you and agree which items are included.
We catalogue the lots on site. Each lot gets a description, photographs and, where relevant, a serial number and condition note. The catalogue goes online and the auction is marketed to buyers in the trade.
Most sales run as online timed auctions. Bidding is open for a set period, usually a week or two, with a viewing day at your premises before it closes. Buyers pay us, then collect their lots during the collection window. We account to you once the sale is reconciled, buyers have paid and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds.
The business retirement auctions page covers when an auction is the right route, what you need to prepare, values, reserves and what the buyer pays, collection day and unsold lots, other routes and when we suggest them.
Questions about selling in Northampton
- We have a lot of lasts and patterns for styles we no longer make. Do they sell?
Some do. Lasts in standard sizes sell to other makers and to repairers, and older patterns and lasts have a market with small makers and collectors. We sort them by size and type into lots that make sense to a buyer and photograph them properly. Lasts for styles nobody else can use go into job lots at the end of the catalogue rather than being skipped. Our view on what they will make is an opinion, and we give it before you decide to include them.
- We are on a monthly rolling lease. When should we give notice?
After the sale date is fixed, not before. We agree the date the auction closes and the days for collection, then you give notice so that the lease ends a week or two after the last lot has gone. That leaves a margin for a heavy lot whose buyer needs a second attempt, and it means you are not paying for an empty unit for a month. If the landlord wants the unit back sooner, we can collect the lots and sell them from our own premises.
More questions about retirement auctions
Related services
Guides
- Auction or private treaty: which route to choose
Auction gives you a fixed date and an open market. Private treaty gives you a negotiated price and privacy. This guide sets out when each route suits, what you give up with each, and why many sales use both.