A SUCCESSFUL bidder can be forgiven if they hummed along to a certain catchy tune at a property auction today.

Underneath the Arches, a popular musical hall song by Bud Flanagan in 1932, would have been the appropriate musical backdrop for an unusual lot in Hampshire snapped up by the buyer.

Converted from the arches of a large Victorian fort, units 1-17 The Galleries at Fort Fareham Industrial Estate, Fareham, went under the hammer with Clive Emson, the regional land and property auctioneers, for £75,000.

Rob Marchant, auctioneer, said: "The price was music to the ears of the bidder, a private investor. This is a high-yielding, long leasehold commercial investment which is bound to have the new leaseholder whistling away - the total annual rent is nearly £40,000."

Occupiers are unaffected by the sale.

At the same site, Units 6A and 6B, part-let at £12,500 per annum and with a leasehold guide of £125-135,000, were sold prior to auction for an undisclosed figure.

A small plot of city centre land at Canute Road, Southampton, with the £1,500 annual rent generated by two advertising hoardings, sold for £40,000, 25 per cent above estimate. There is an adjacent railway line, yet to be adapted to passenger services.

The lots were among 23 being sold at the Ageas Bowl, West End.

Clive Emson's next auction takes place at the same venue, the Ageas Bowl, at 11am on December 17.