Barkeeper.ie - The licensed premises property market has realigned over the past five years, according to Morrisseys Auctioneers in its annual report. Licensed premises which were located within major and/or growing population centres enjoyed a bright future and those that did not faced challenging times.
Interest from developers in pubs with development potential resulted in 25 [...]

This Is Lancashire - AUCTION mart bosses are celebrating after the ban on bird sales imposed following the avian flu outbreak in Suffolk was lifted.
Organisers of Clitheroe Auction Mart’s popular Wednesday night fur and feather sale welcomed the news and said the restrictions had hit business hard.
The ban came in to affect when it was [...]

Fox’s Biscuits owner Northern Foods said today it was out of the auction for Burton’s Foods – the firm behind Wagon Wheels and Maryland Cookies.
Private equity group Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst is currently considering its options for Burton’s, which employs 3,000 people and has four UK bakeries.
Northern is believed to have been up against [...]

The Study for Portrait II, painted in 1956, was sold to an anonymous bidder at Christie’s on Thursday evening.
The portrait, one of more than 50 of Catholic church leaders created by Bacon, had been expected to fetch £12m.
The previous record for a Bacon painting was $15m (£7.8m), set by Version No 2 of Lying Figure [...]

The Irish Independent reports that estate agents Savills Hamilton Osborne King have moved to deflect the growing sense of doom surrounding Ireland’s property market, saying “the best purchases may well be made this year”.
The agent’s Property Outlook paints a remarkably optimistic picture of the property market, predicting price increases of 5 to 6pc this year. [...]