Auction News Celebrates 60 Year Anniversary

As 2018 draws to a close, Auction News celebrates its sixtieth year of operation; six decades in which the business embraced the digital revolution, moved into purpose-built premises and expanded from a one-man operation to a family-led team of eleven.

“I can’t remember a time when I was this excited about the future of the business,” says Steve Payne, the Managing Director, and it’s easy to understand his passion. Today, Auction News announces a collaboration with Canamp director, Richard Paul, whose innovative bidding software has revolutionised the auction industry over the last two decades. Steve is keen to share how this development will empower his customers, but before he unveils the exciting details, let’s take a look back at the history of the company and how the business started, way back in the late 1950’s.

In the beginning
The story begins in 1958 when Derby-born entrepreneur Ronald Whitehurst set out to establish a company he called Auction Guide and Auction News Services. Known as Ron to his friends, Ronald was passionate about consumer rights, and frequently wrote letters to his MP and the newspapers, standing up for the rights of ordinary people. A keen business man, he loved trying out new ideas to achieve his dual goals of making his fortune and providing a necessary service to the public.

Some five years earlier, Ron had met the current MD Steve’s father, John Payne, at the Derby Judo Club and the two men hit it off immediately, bonding over an enthusiasm for commerce and a shared dream of running a successful business. Ron was working as a self-employed commission agent, bringing together buyers and sellers of industrial equipment and liquidated stock. Always on the look-out for new opportunities, he subscribed to many trade journals and catalogues and spent many a long hour in the Derby library researching national and local newspapers for information.

During his research, Ron came across lots of obscure and little-known regional auctions and soon realised there was a demand for a service which informed businesses where and when these auctions were taking place and the prices realised. The seed was sown and in 1958 “Auction Guide and Auction News Services” was born.

Ron had his work cut out – he was already running two agency companies alongside the new auction business – but he could see demand was growing. Realising he’d struck on a gap in the market, Ron asked his old friend John to help him run and expand Auction Guide and Auction News Services, which was based at The Spot in Derby back then.

Having served for two years in the RAF, John was working as a design engineer at Rolls Royce nuclear marine division. Outside of office hours, he was also building up his own business selling shirts and lingerie made by his mother, a talented seamstress. Nevertheless, John offered to help his friend in the evenings and weekends. John and Ron worked well together, sharing tactics and information to help each other grow their respective businesses and offering support when life or the market got tough. Challenging and fulfilling years passed in which Auction Guide and Auction News Services relocated from The Spot to The Strand to St Mary Gate, and the weekly news sheet doubled in size to two pages. John was always there on hand to help and when he later got married and had a family, the friendship endured with John’s children calling their father’s friend “Uncle Ron”.

The years sped by, but tragically, in 1983, Ron was diagnosed with lung cancer and when he succumbed to the disease in 1984, John found himself responsible for Auction Guide and Auction News Services. In spite of his deep loyalty to the company and to Ron, John wasn’t able to take on the business he had inherited; as the auction news sheet had been growing, so had John’s business as a lingerie manufacturer and so he faced a dilemma. He’d witnessed first-hand how Ron had toiled to build his client base but he just didn’t have the time or resources to take over the company full time.

Hoping to avoid winding down the business – disappointing so many loyal subscribers and losing Ron’s hard work in the process – John asked his two sons if they would be interested in taking it on. It was a long shot, since both had their hands full with careers and young families of their own, but elder son Steve was tempted.

A leap of faith 
Steve had a good job at Rolls Royce, working as a Numerical Control Programmer on aero engine blades, but he had always dreamed of having his own business. However, at twenty-five, he had a mortgage to pay and a young family to support. It was too great a gamble to let go of the job security he’d landed at Rolls Royce to take on Ron’s auction business full time, but Steve had inherited his father’s entrepreneurial spirit and couldn’t ignore the fact that the business had potential: the newsletter met an important need. Regardless, his family came first, and he couldn’t throw their fates into uncertainty to pursue anything less than a dead cert.

Sharing the news of the rare opportunity and how he would have to turn it down with his then father-in-law, Wally Windsor, a solution occurred to Steve that might work for everyone. Wally had just retired from his managerial role at the East Midlands Electricity Board and was keen to continue working part-time. He could type, and was a dab hand with accounts, while Steve was a whizz with computers. The two men deliberated long and hard and after much discussion they decided to share the risk of the endeavour: if it failed after they’d given their best efforts, at least they’d know they tried.

The hours were long, with Steve working evenings and weekends, as well as maintaining his full time job at Rolls Royce, but like Ron and John before them, they were a good team. With their compatible skill sets and varied experience, they committed themselves to making the business a success. In 1986, Auction Guide and Auction News Services bought its very first computer, a green screen Amstrad with 64mb of memory and the old Gestetner duplicator was retired for a new photocopier. Business was booming, and in 1989, aged 31, Steve resigned from Rolls Royce to give it his undivided attention.

Five years of hard graft had paid off, with Steve and Wally gradually building the list of subscribers they’d inherited from Ron from a couple of hundred to well over a thousand. Wally continued working with Steve for a few more years, before finally taking his hard-earned retirement. In 1991 Steve shortened the company’s name to Auction News and the business never looked back. In 1994, Steve’s eldest daughter, Helen, began a nine year stint working in the business and in 1998, just five years after dial-up internet access was first introduced to the UK, the first website was launched.

In 2001 Auction News was incorporated and the team continued to expand. Lorraine Phillips, now production manager, joined the company and in 2004, Alison Payne, Steve’s wife, joined the team as Executive Director. By now, Auction News had launched a new website which allowed for real time updates, advertising sales had increased exponentially and to meet demand, two brand new Xerox colour printers were purchased. In 2006 the first colour Auction News magazine was published and two years later, the company celebrated its fiftieth birthday by moving into its purpose-built office in Allestree, just North of Derby.

By the end of the Noughties the recession had taken hold and Auction News was working at full capacity to cope with the sheer volume of liquidation auctions and insolvencies coming through. In 2014, to help support the continued growth of the business, Steve’s youngest daughter Gemma joined the team as Operations Director after a successful turn of her own at Rolls Royce where she qualified as a management accountant. The following year, AuctionNews.com was launched and the workforce expanded further with the appointment of a new Sales Manager, followed in 2016 by a new Marketing Manager, a Web Executive and a Graphic Designer.

Looking ahead
It is precisely this dynamism that has kept Auction News thriving across the decades, and in partnership with Richard Paul, the business intends to forge ahead with its signature innovation, offering auctioneers the opportunity to display full catalogue listings with images and to sell lots via its brand new website. Richard’s new online bidding software will cover all bases, with online bidding taking place directly from the Auction News portal or from the auctioneers’ own websites. A fully integrated financial and invoicing package will follow, providing the ultimate all-in-one online bidding solution.

With hard work, dedication, and a spirit of adventure that has so far passed through three generations, the business continues to learn, change and develop. By taking an opportunity that seemed too good to miss, Steve managed to achieve his dreams of working with auctions and computers and building his own successful family business.

“Reaching the sixty year milestone for a family-run business is an outstanding achievement that I’m extremely proud of,” he says, "and I know that Uncle Ron would be proud too. I’d like to say a big thank you to all our loyal clients, customers and staff who have helped us get here. We will continue to innovate, adapt and evolve our service to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing business world. The move into online bidding is something we’ve been working towards for some time and now we are collaborating on the project with Richard Paul and Canamp I can see it’s the perfect fit.”

So raise a glass to Auction News, the Paynes and Whitehursts and all the staff who have worked so hard over the years to make this Derby-based business such a resounding success. Watch this space for the latest news on future developments.