INVESTORS are expected to converge on a London auction to bid for commercial properties in Selby, Scarborough and Bridlington town centres.

Auctioneer George Walker, of Allsop & Co, hopes to bring in more than £2 million from just four lots when he wields the hammer at London's Claridges, on Thursday, December 8.

Two unnamed brothers, both businessmen from Harrogate, are hoping to do well from the sale of two shops in Gowthorpe, Selby.

One of the shops, at 17/19, is Greenwoods Menswear Ltd, which pays £29,716 per year on a lease which lasts until 2018. The property has a guide price of more than £500,000.

Smaller premises at number 29, opposite Woolworths, is let to Budget Retail Ltd, whose annual rental is £14,500 on a lease which lasts until 2007. Guide price is £200,000.

The building housing The Catalogue Store for the £428 million-turnover JD Williams & Co, in Newborough, Scarborough, has a guide price of between £575,000 and £800,000.

JD Williams & Co, which last year earned £27 million in pre-tax profits, pays annual rent of £37,500 on a lease which lasts until 2014.

A London property company has put the Olde Globe Inn pub, in Bridlington High Street, under the hammer. It is let to London & Edinburgh Inns for £51,000 per annum until 2038. Guide price is between £625,000 and £650,000.

Mr Walker said he expected there would be interest in the Selby properties from a number of first time investors "willing to dip their toe in the market".

He said: "The Bridlington and Scarborough properties are likely to be snapped up by much more seasoned investors.

"The Bridlington pub, in particular, is causing a lot of pre-auction excitement, and there is sufficient interest in all the other properties to suggest that we could exceed the overall £2 million mark."

Updated: 09:26 Tuesday, November 29, 2005