Seaton searchlight building sells for more than £70k

It was used during WW2

East Devon District Council’s historic former World War II searchlight building on Seaton seafront has been sold by online auction for £72,500.

It attracted strong interest in the lead-up to the auction and, on the day of the auction, a total of 100 bids were received from nine different bidders.

Reacting to the news of the auction result, Councillor Geoff Pook, East Devon’s Asset Management portfolio holder said: “The price achieved has far exceeded what both the council and auctioneers anticipated and provides a valuable receipt to the council. I look forward to seeing the plans for the building and seeing it brought back into a beneficial use.”

Auctioneers, Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “The property presents a truly unique opportunity and we look forward to seeing it become a feature of the seafront in the future. The sale of the property by online auction opened up the sale to a much wider audience, particularly to local residents, this is shown by the fact that this was many of the bidders’ first auction. We believe that this wide array of bidders was the reason such a good result was achieved.”