Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood are delighted to announce their expansion eastwards in the county of Devon into the Antiques centre and market town of Honiton.
The company will be reopening the auction rooms in Dowell Street in January 2010 when they are vacated by Bonhams.
Richard Bearne, the chairman of Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood said "We regard this as a superb opportunity to build on the solid business base already established by the joining together of Bearne's and Hampton & Littlewood earlier this year.
As the third generation of a family of West Country auctioneers I am convinced that there remains a strong demand for locally-held auctions of items ranging from a modest to a high value. By extending our representation eastwards we intend to continue offering the best possible service to our professional and private clients and to build on the expertise established over sixty four years of auctioneering."
Managing Director Christopher Hampton said "I am equally excited at the prospect of moving forward the combined business of Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.
Our plan is to retain our premises in Okehampton Street, Exeter, as the flagship venue for our quarterly Fine Art sales and Maritime sale, whilst developing the Honiton operation as a centre for collector's items and books. The Antiques and Collectables sales will be held fortnightly in each saleroom and a sale of silver and jewellery will be held on alternating months in each venue.
The advantage of having salerooms in separate towns is that from Exeter we can concentrate our energies westwards into Cornwall where Richard Hamm is our excellent representative based in Wadebridge and from Honiton our energies can extend eastwards under the splendid guidance of Sally Bartlett, based in Bridport.
We will, of course, continue to offer the London and International auction links to clients as appropriate, which have been established through both Bearne's and Hampton & Littlewood over a number of years."
- Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
- Honiton
