'Two-thirds of pubs at auction are sold'

About two-thirds of pubs put to auction in the past year were sold, at an average of 4.9% above the guide price.

That is according to Essential Information Group (EIG), which maps pub sales at auctions across the country.

EIG found that 406 of the 625 pubs put to auction in the year to the end of October 2010 were sold.

The average selling price was £455,784, 4.9% above the guide price. However, that figure has been uplifted by the auction activities of Enterprise Inns, which has been selling prime sites in and around London on a sale and leaseback basis.

Enterprise sold 46 pubs at auction during the year.

As an example of prices achieved, the pubco raised £11.4m selling nine pubs at an Allsop auction last month when it expected to earn £11.3m selling 11 sites.

The EIG figures show north-west England saw the most pubs offered at auction at 132, with London following at 120.

The south-west was at the bottom of the list, offering only 22 pubs.

East Anglia saw 23 pubs put up for auction, while the north-east had 25.

For the 12 months to October, the most pubs sold at auction were in London, at 95.

In the north-west, 80 were sold, leaving 52 unsold at auction.

In the West Midlands, only half of the pubs offered at auction actually sold.

In relation to how much the pubs were sold for, London came out top, with the average price for each pub at £1.1m.

EIG managing director David Sandeman said: "These results are broadly in line with the wider auction market, with sale rates of properties being offered in the north-west slightly lower than the national average.

"Meanwhile, London and the south-east are seeing results slightly above average."