Lavatory owner feeling flush after £403,000 sale

A public convenience in Fulham banks four times the guide price at auctionThe public lavatory in Fulham, southwest London, that sold for more than four times its guide price of £90,000

Francesca Steele and Claire Caroponen

House prices may be in free fall but a public lavatory was sold yesterday for £403,000, with developers claiming that it would make a great club, school or "bog-standard cafe".

The two-storey property near Fulham Broadway, southwest London, was sold at auction for more than four times its guide price.

Unsuccessful bidders expressed surprise at the price for the property, which featured in the Bricks & Mortar section of The Times last week. Stuart Blakemore, a developer who bid £250,000, said: "I would never have expected it to go for over £300,000. I can't imagine anyone will make money on it."

It is not the first time that someone has paid over the odds for a public convenience. Last year a one-storey lavatory in the Scottish town of St Andrews sold for £195,000, more than four times the guide price.