Popular Isle of Wight hotel among properties sold at auction

The auction, hosted by Clive Emson Auctioneers, featured 166 lots across southern England, with 21 properties listed from the Island.

Among them was the Harrow Lodge Hotel in Shanklin, a well-regarded 20-room family-run guest house on Palmerston Road.

The cliff top hotel was sold privately immediately after the action, with the former owners handing over the keys due to retirement.

Harrow Lodge Hotel in Shanklin (Image: Clive Emson Auctioneers)

Rob Marchant, Island auctioneer for Clive Emson, said: “The Harrow Lodge, a popular, profitable family-run business for many years, was reluctantly sold due to retirement.

"It was sold immediately post auction for an undisclosed amount, having just failed to meet the reserve price.”

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Commercial interest remained high, as seen with 49A High Street, Brading, previously a barber shop, next to the Rectory Mansion.

Former barber shop on Brading High Street (Image: Clive Emson Auctioneers)

With a leasehold commercial unit let at £4,200 per annum, the property sold for £28,000 – exceeding its guide price by £3,000.

Occupying a landmark corner location fronting Regent Street in Shanklin, the former Toymaster shop – which traded for 63 years before closing in April 2023 – was also up for auction.

• Read more: End of an era as Shanklin Toymaster and Sports Shop prepares to close

Former Toymaster shop on Regent Street in Shanklin (Image: Clive Emson Auctioneers)

The building is currently let at an annual income of £35,000, and its town centre position made it an attractive investment opportunity for buyers, with it selling at auction for £345,000.

The most expensive Island property to sell at the auction was a block of six two-bedroom flats at Kingswood, Coronation Road, Cowes, at £450,000.

Meanwhile, a two-bedroom cottage on Leeson Road in Ventnor, located opposite the Bonchurch landslip and roughly 120m from Devil’s Chimney, fetched £145,000.

Two-bedroom cottage on Leeson Road in Ventnor (Image: Clive Emson Auctioneers)

Other notable sales included:
 

• A freehold block at 16 Surbiton Grove, Ryde, comprising five flats and a large workshop/store, let at £24,780 per annum, which sold for £345,000.

• A central Ryde investment property at 23 Star Street, comprising four flats let for a combined £2,775 per calendar month, was sold for £290,000.

• Flat A, 63 High Street, Ryde, a first-floor flat with a 999-year lease and a share of the freehold, fetched £67,500.

First floor flat on Ryde High Street (Image: Clive Emson Auctioneers)

• 7 Palmerston Road, Shanklin: a two-bedroom flat under an 836-year lease from 2020 sold for £94,000.

• A 0.70-acre plot of land north-west of Baring Road, Egypt Esplanade, Cowes, with seafront pedestrian access, sold for £9,500.

• A freehold plot at 1 Lower Hornhill, Rew Street, Gurnard, Cowes, with planning consent for a chalet-style home, sold for £90,000.

A freehold plot off Rew Street in Gurnard (Image: Clive Emson Auctioneers)

Entries for Clive Emson Auctioneers’ next auction – its fifth of eight this year – close on June 30, with the catalogue available from July 3.

Online bidding will be live from July 22, concluding on July 24.