AUCTIONEERS Bonhams is closing its Oxfordshire sale room, making 17 staff redundant.

The final auction at the branch in Shipton-on-Cherwell, near Kidlington, will be on September 30.

Although the office will remain open and continue to offer valuations and advice, from October, sales will be held at Bonhams’ London and international sale rooms.

The Oxfordshire branch, which had 26 employees, will now run with just nine.

Bonhams Oxford manager Michael Wynell-Mayow said: “The office will still operate as a valuation centre but we will not be holding sales here anymore.”

Bonhams deputy director of press and public relations Andrew Currie said: “We’ve taken this decision because most of our UK regional revenue now comes from transferring items to our international salerooms in London and elsewhere.

“It makes sense for the Oxford team to concentrate on this increasingly important part of Bonhams business. It’s a purely commercial decision.”

Auctions have been held at the branch since 2001.

It has been the setting for notable sales in the past, including last June when a 1955 Vincent 998cc Black Prince Project motorbike broke the world record for the most expensive sale of that model. It sold for £91,100 – which was four times its estimate.

A Humpty doll used on the chil- dren’s TV show Play School fetched more than £6,000 in May last year.

And in March last year, Question Time presenter David Dimbleby’s 1972 Citroën DS Saloon, imported from South Africa and reportedly used in the making of 2006 film The Last King of Scotland, was auctioned off by the Bonhams Oxford team.

Caroline Henney, dealer at Antiques on High, Oxford, said: “It’s a real shocker that Bonhams is going.

“Having both Mallards and Bonhams in Oxford was great, especially because they bring in a lot of London dealers, who come and visit us too. Bonhams are great for the antique economy.”

“It was bad enough when Bonhams moved out to Kidlington because less people came to visit us.

“But now that they’re going to be going altogether, I can’t imagine what the result will be.

“I wish them all the best with their move.”

Joe Smith, founder of Banbury-based valuation and auction house JS Fine Art, which invested £250,000 in refurbishing its sales room last year, described the move as “astonishing”.

He said: “Bonhams’ decision is an astonishing one for those of us in the trade because they are doing really well and have had a number of really big sales in Oxford.

“But it seems to be Bonhams, as a corporate entity, are trying to hone down the business so that they focus on their specialities of modern art and classic cars.”