AN auction mart celebrated the start of a new era yesterday as it held its first horse auction for 15 years.

Darlington Auction Mart, which is under new management after a tough year brought it to its knees, attracted about 1,000 people to the sale.

New manager Stephen Aitken, the former manager of Stokesley auction mart, in North Yorkshire, said the sale - an attempt by the mart to start diversifying - had been a huge success and was well-supported by the equestrian community.

More than 40 horses were sold and people came from areas including Leicester and Cumbria to buy anything from racehorses to Shetland ponies.

Horse auctions will be held once a month at the mart, with the next one on May 19.

Mr Aitken said: "We had people from all walks of life here. There is a strong equestrian base in County Durham and North Yorkshire, and the closest auction is held in York, so we thought it would be good to start holding a horse sale again.

"The mart was not doing well last year - foot and mouth really rocked it - but the cattle sales have picked up in the past three months. It is certainly going up and up again.

"It is very bad when these marts go out of business because once they have gone, they have gone forever. It is a strong social event for these farmers, which they need because they have had some really hard times recently."