Following the tragic death of John Ball in a horse-riding
accident last year, Tennants appeared to have secured the future of the Leicester-based auction company – restyling it as Tennants Heathcote Ball – but the operation was quickly wound down after the Castle Auction Rooms in Leicester city centre were vacated for redevelopment.
The new office at the Millhouse, South Street, Oakham – that opens for business on September 18 with an official launch later this year – will be a consignment office with display cases similar to the one Tennants have in Harrogate. Carrying the Tennants name only, it will be manned by former Leyburn valuer Christopher Surfleet and his secretary with plans for the Tennants team of 16 specialists to tour the Midlands for periodic valuation days.
Rodney Tennant says he is already pleased with the volume of material travelling north from Leicester to his purpose-built complex in the Yorkshire Dales.
No Tennants auctions for Leicester
North Yorkshire auctioneers Tennants, who bought the Heathcote Ball name earlier this year, are to open a consignment office in Leicester this month but have no plans to hold auctions in the Midlands.