Brailes Mechanical & Craft Society – June 2026
‘The History of Midland Marts – the journey of an auctioneer’ with Brian Pile.
Midland Marts ran the Banbury cattle market from 1925 until 1998. It was the largest cattle market in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. Prior to the First World War animals were sold on the streets of the town centre, with all the inconvenience to the general public, and the mess which animals made.
Brian was born into a farming family and his introduction to auctioneering was at Henley-in-Arden market. After Henley High School he had joined the local market company. This was the start of his 50-year career. His first experience as an auctioneer was selling produce such as jams and cakes. However, after a work dispute he left and joined Banbury Market. He started on small jobs such as selling calves and then he moved on to selling sheep in much bigger numbers. During his long career he had many varied assignments, ensuring that both sellers and buyers were treated fairly was an important part of the job,
Banbury market was on a 30 acre site in Merton Street, east of the railway. This location was convenient for loading cattle onto trains for transporting around the UK. In addition, Banburyhas good road links to the Continent and significant business was done with countries such as the Netherlands. The success of the company in the1970’s led to it being listed on the London Stock Exchange. By the 1990’s it was owned by Royal Life Insurance. Their interest was in the estate agency business which had come with Midland Marts. The Banbury market sitewas more valuable as house building land, so when the lease expired in1998 the cattle market ceased to trade.
After that Brian worked at various places. One of these was Bicester MOD Camp. The MOD produced a catalogue of surplus items, without much description of the lots for sale. He told the story of a Ford Escort van which was sold without an engine. The buyer was naturally very annoyed. Another problem was with a JCB excavator which failed to sell. Enquiries found that it had been hit by a train. One half was on one side of the line and the other on the opposite side. Both these cases demonstrated that any lot for sale should always be seenbefore making a bid.
Brian was thanked for an entertaining presentation.
Our next meeting is on Monday 1st June featuring “Bar Codes – Lines that changed the world”, with Peter Jordan. We meet at 7:30pm in the Village Hall. New members and guests are welcome.
Eric Darvell, Secretary