A RESERVOIR up in the northern hills of Bolton has been bought at auction for £36,500.

Dean Mills Reservoir in Smithills, located just one mile south east of Winter Hill, went under the hammer at an auction held at the Macron today.

The site off Coal Pit Road measures about seven acres — 5.5 acres of water together with 1.5 acres of moorland.

The final total it sold for was about £16,000 more than the top end of the guide price, which was between £10,000 and £20,000.

Before the event, held by Auction House North West in the stadium’s Platinum Suite, director Stuart Cooper said the reservoir was a difficult site for the auctioneers to come up with a guide price.

He said: “It is certainly unique. It is one of those properties that was certainly difficult to put a value on.

“So we have put it up for auction and it will find its true value depending on what someone has a requirement for.

“It could be a local landowner who wants somewhere to float their boat or someone looking for somewhere to fish.

“It is for someone who has got a bit of spare cash who want to use it for their own leisure or somewhere to get away to.

“The views up there are stunning, you can see all the way to the coast, to North Wales and to Manchester.”

The reservoir was bought by Bethany Carr, who lives near Heath Charnock.

Another lot that was up for auction was the iconic Century Mill in Farnworth — a former cotton mill off George Street.

The property had a guide price at between £1.5million and £2million but failed to reach its reserve price of £2million despite bids getting up to £1.9million.

Bernard Perrin, aged 87, who manages the mill for Plan Ahead, said owner Chandrakant Khajuria came up from London to attend the auction

Mr Perrin said: “It was very close to the reserve price but it didn’t quite reach it. The highest offer was £1.9 million and it struggled to get to that and wouldn’t go up any more, and Mr Khajuria has said he would never take less than £2 million.

“Mr Khajuria is upset but he realised it might not sell and he’s quite sensible.

“There’s nothing else we can do. Mr Khajuria will have to carry on, just as he has looked after it for 30 years and I will continue for as long as I’m healthy enough to do so.

“The tenants are relieved because they didn’t want to move most people wanted to buy it, knock it down and build flats and houses it its place.”

The mill is situated on a four acre site and currently producing £172,014.88 per year.

It has been sub-divided in to 46 lettable units and the first and second floors are currently vacant.

Several business currently operate from the site, including Astra Windows,

Link Design fitted kitchen and bedroom suppliers, a skip hire firm and a scrap yard, as well as several small companies operate from the basement.