A&R breathes new life into lodge

  Andrews & Robertson raised £9m at its 18 March auction.   Some 60% of the 76-lot catalogue sold at the Grand Connaught Rooms, WC2. Post-sales pushed totals to 64% and £9.5m within 24 hours.   Among the 45 properties that sold was a former cemetery lodge in Lower Richmond Road, SW15, which will now be used as a band rehearsal space. Offered with full vacant possession by the London Borough of Wandsworth, it made £435,000 from a guide of £295,000.   Other notable sales included a long-leasehold, ground-floor flat in Rusholme Road, SW15. It made £435,000 off a guide of £270,000, while a flat in Old Park Avenue, SW12, made £432,500 from its £310,000 guide.   A freehold, three-bedroom house – on the market for the first time in 50 years – in Robin Hood Lane, SW15, made £455,000 from a £390,000 guide.   Senior auctioneer Robin Cripp said: “This was an over-spill sale from February’s auction, which raised £21m. To raise a combined total of just over £30m while bank lending remains problematic is a great indicator of the strength of demand for well-priced auction stock.”