Double garage in Bristol without planning permission sold at auction for £215,000

A double garage has been sold at auction without planning permission for £215,000 – more than twice its estimate.

While lock-ups in the most affluent parts of London are known to sell for six-figure sums, this four-car garage is 100 miles away in Bristol.

Before the sale, agents Hollis Morgan said the garage “may have potential, subject to consents, for commercial or residential use in this highly sought after location”.

More than 140 people registered their interest and, after a fierce bidding battle, it was sold to an unnamed buyer over the phone for £215,000, a record for the auction house, and well ahead of its £95,000 estimate.

Olly Hollis, director of Hollis Morgan, said a dozen or so people were bidding on the freehold 757sq/ft plot.

“It is rare to have a garage like this come to the market and there may be some development potential,” he said.

“Bidding quickly went to £150,000. Pembroke Vale is one of the most valuable roads in Bristol and it is an unusually large garage.”

A single garage nearby was sold in September for £35,000.

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The price paid is around the same as the average home in England and Wales and the garage doesn’t currently have planning permission to be developed.

The average home in Bristol now costs £257,000, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.

Clifton is the city’s most expensive area with townhouses typically costing well in excess of £1 million. Homes on Pembroke Vale generally cost more than £1.5 million.

Henry Pryor, an independent property expert and buying agent, said: “Over the years we have seen mews houses converted from stables and the pressure for new homes, especially if they are not on green land, is immense.

“This may seem bonkers to many residents of Bristol but with homes at a premium in posh Clifton the sums may yet add up.”