20 Years Later!

As I write this, I’m sitting in my study at home. It’s seems like a world away from 1st February 2001.

February 2021 marks a very important milestone in the history of Paul Fosh Auctions. It’s some 20 years since Paul Fosh Auctions was set up. In those early days we absolutely flew by the seats of our pants. Three cars were bought from the local car auctions and we rented a single room office in Gold Tops.

But even in those early days the scene was set for what was about to come. Incredibly, two of the original three team members who joined me back then still work for PFA. Gemma and Sean have been with us from the start and only Julia (Bob) has left, preferring for some reason to live in the sunnier climes of Spain.

And that may be at least in part why we quickly became and have remained the biggest and most successful auction company in Wales. A consistency of staff brings with it a deep family atmosphere and with it, strong culture and bonds. We have though continued to grow and expand; there is a saying that I love, to stand still is to go backwards. We now employ some 12 staff in auctions and our recently opened lettings company.

That’s one of the many evolutions we’ve seen over the years. The addition of Paul Fosh Lettings means that we can now offer a real “one-stop-shop” helping people buy, refurb, rent out or sell their properties. Of course though, some things evolve slowly and some just take off. Online auctions could fall into either, or indeed both categories.

We held our first online auction a few years ago. It was seen as ground-breaking at the time, even perhaps a little risky. Despite being able to demonstrate how well the online sales worked, there was initially a reluctance from many sellers to enter properties into this new medium. This of course all changed in March 2020 when large room gatherings were banned due to Covid19 restrictions.

Thankfully we had a tried and tested solution and from the off our sales were a hit. We use a fully tailored online auction platform which is in many ways identical to eBay. The system is so easy to use and so transparent it has become a massive hit. Despite lower numbers of properties going to auction generally, our numbers have continued to rise. Buyers are now being attracted in from all over the world and it’s not unusual to see bidders from 50+ countries around the world registering to bid.

Our first auction of 2021 is a case in point...

So, we’re celebrating our 20th anniversary. We’ve grown massively but managed to retain our “family” feel and our strong culture, we’ve been innovative with technologies and haven’t been afraid to take chances. We have a swanky large Georgian company HQ in Newport but are also setup to allow staff to work seamlessly from home and not one member of staff was laid or furloughed off during the pandemic.

So what of the future? The coming years, let alone the next 20 years are bound to involve a massive period of change in technologies, legislation and working practices. All we can do is to try to stay ahead of the game. We’ll try new things, we’ll grow and we’ll expand. I’m sure that flexible working will be here for good which for me, currently looking out over my garden I absolutely welcome. Anything else? Well, let’s wait and see.

Here’s to the next 20 years!

Paul Fosh – Managing Director