BUYERS were bursting to spend their pennies in a effort to buy a vacant public toilet block in Newport when it went for auction.

The block created so much interest that it was eventually sold for more than five times its guide price.

The convenient property located next door to a pub and on a main route into the city of Newport was being offered without a chain.

The modern toilet block and forecourt, on busy Caerleon Road next door to The Victoria Inn, at the junction with York Road, was sold by Newport-based Paul Fosh Auctions.

Early bids for the three-booth toilet complex and forecourt were soon flushed out as the price rocketed past the £15,000 guide, eventually selling for £60,000 more, at £75,250.

Debra Bisley, who handled the sale for Paul Fosh Auctions on behalf of Newport City Council, said: "The toilet block was be sold with vacant possession. Bidders were really engaged with this property.

"We had a total of 18 bidders making a staggering 158 bids before it eventually sold for £60,250 more than the guide of £15,000.

"The modern, three cubicle block is in a very convenient spot right on Caerleon Road. It is far from a bog standard property and has great potential for a new owner.

"Clearly bidders saw the toilet block as a great opportunity to purchase a single story, detached, property located close to the centre of Newport. Caerleon Road is one of the main thoroughfares leading to Newport city centre. The road comprises commercial as well as residential properties, with a good level of footfall."

This is not the first time Wales' leading property auction business has engaged in the marketing and subsequent sale of a former public convenience.

ms Bisley said: "Perhaps the most creative and unusual re use of a former public WC to date was actually here in Newport.

"We were involved in the marketing of a derelict Grade II listed, Victorian era loos in Alexandra Road, in the former dockland area of Pill.

"The elaborate toilet block was bought for £15,000 and converted. It is now the Phyllis Maude Performance Space and reckoned to be the tiniest venue of its type anywhere in the UK."

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