AN auction house is hoping to move out of Darlington town centre.

Peter Robinson, who runs the Thomas Watson saleroom, in Northumberland Street, is seeking permission from the borough council to build an auction room on Yarm Road industrial estate.

The company has bought the one-and-a-half acre site with a view to future development.

Mr Robinson said: "We have other warehouse accommodation in the town we need to vacate, but this is what quite a lot of auctioneers have done because of difficulties with loading and parking. The council is now talking about putting parking meters in Northumberland Street."

If planning permission is granted, the transition would be a gradual one.

"We would probably take the more valuable and smaller items in Northumberland Street to start with and the larger, house clearance and less valuable ones to the new premises, where there would be plenty of parking space," said Mr Robinson.