Location is everything as Darlington mart settles into new site

And that's not just for viewers of the Channel Four TV series where householders – usually with vast budgets – look for the perfect home. It also goes for the new site occupied by Darlington Farmers' Auction Mart.

Sitting close to the A1(M), beside the A68 at Burtree Gate, the spacious Humbleton Farm might as well be a world away from its previous, cramped site on Clifton Road, just off Darlington town centre.

The mart moved in September 2020, a time overshadowed by Covid restrictions that meant, like other marts, they had to operate a "drop and go" policy to keep customers safe.

It wasn't able to have its official opening until 19 months later, when Prince Charles did the honours, much to the delight of the dedicated staff and loyal customers.

Prince Charles gets a tour of the new Darlington Auction Mart Picture: STUART BOULTON

With the second anniversary of the move now fast approaching, DFAM fields person Stephen Dodsworth reflects that easy access to Humbleton is one of the key factors in the success of the site.

"The facility is second to none," he says. "It's the most modern auction mart in the country. The location on the side of the motorway is perfect."

He believes the future of livestock markets is most definitely outside town centres in the modern era – and the long history of Darlington mart would suggest there is plenty to support that point of view.

Darlington's market history goes back to the 11th Century, when the market rights were granted by the Bishop of Durham, and by the mid-19th Century, cattle were being sold on High Row, geese in Prospect Place, sheep in Tubwell Row, horses in Horsemarket and Bondgate, and pigs outside St Cuthbert’s Church.

National Beef Expo at Darlington Auction Mart, pictured Mark Dent, Chairman Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

In 1871, a petition was drawn up demanding that animal sales be moved from the town centre. It was defeated by a union between farmers and town centre traders, but just seven years later Darlington council banned animal sales in the streets, largely on sanitation grounds.

Business was transferred to a new cattle mart on Clifton Road, which the council had built for £14,000 on pastureland near the shed that in those days served as Bank Top railway station, where there was a “cattle dock” to unload animals. But within a few years, residential terraces started appearing around the site, sowing the seeds of conflict which was to rumble on for many decades. Voices of discontent grew louder as cattle wagons increased in size, struggling with access.

In the 1990s, plans to move to Morton Palms and then land off Neasham Road fell through, and it wasn't until 2006 that the first proposals for Humbleton Farm, between Burtree Gate and Heighington, appeared. It would take another 12 years for the plans to reach the point at which construction could start, and on September 17, 2020, with the nation still in the grip of the Covid pandemic, the final sale took place at Bank Top.

The first sales at Humbleton took place four days later, when 546 cattle and 3,194 sheep went under the hammer.

As well as the sale rings and popular cafe, there is a hub of related businesses, and a boardroom which has been put to good use by local groups. The site can also offer overnight lairage facilities, and holds three to four machinery sales a year.

Prince Charles gets a tour of the new Darlington Auction Mart Picture: STUART BOULTON

About 250,000 head of livestock is now going through the mart annually, and it recently held its first horse sale. The mart has a growing trade of bulls out of Scotland, and is also looking to the next generation, encouraging young handlers of cattle and sheep.

Stephen recently travelled to Westminster to give evidence to a House of Commons committee about mental health in farming, and believes the current focus on rewilding land and the narrative in some national media outlets around agriculture is having a severe impact on wellbeing in the industry. "Farmers are persecuted by the media," he says. "It's horrendous."

Posting about the mart's activities on social media also comes with a health warning, often attracting comments from animal rights activists. "I don't engage with them now," says Stephen. "But I do see farmers get quite upset by it."

The mart lived with "relatively peaceful" vegan activists at its Clifton Road site for many years, but met with a whole new level of activism when hosting the National Beef Expo at Humbleton last month. Masked protestors climbed onto the roof in the early hours, letting off flares, while other members of the group waves placards outside the entrance, some shouting abuse at visitors. Five were later arrested.

"They should take the masks off and start talking, then they are accountable," says Stephen. "The masks have to go."

Stock in the ring at the National Beef Expo at Darlington Auction Mart Picture: SARAH CALDECOTT

The event itself was a huge success, and the mart will be looking to host it again the next time it comes to the North East. "We had so many comments saying what a good day it was," says Stephen.

Reflecting on the near-two years since the move, Stephen says: "We are busy, everything is really positive."

Turnover is 30 per cent up since the move, and the mart is working hard to attract new people to the site.

It held a Christmas fair for the first time last year, incorporating the traditional Christmas cattle show. "It was fantastic, says Stephen, "and opens us up to more than just regular farming customers, which is what we want to do.

"Where before we've had farmers just come to look at the cattle, now they bring their families, and they will perhaps come back in future."