London auction weeks. A car held close by for every viewing, sale and late dinner.
Twice a year the major London sales stack up inside a few days, and the whole thing happens within a fifteen minute walk. The walking is not the problem. The waiting, the timing and the late finishes are.
The season
London's sale weeks at a glance
- WhenTwo main international weeks a yearEarly March and again in October, when the major modern and contemporary evening sales are grouped together. Summer and December weeks carry the Old Master and classic sales.
- WhereMayfair and St James'sChristie's on King Street, Sotheby's on New Bond Street, Phillips on Berkeley Square, Bonhams on New Bond Street and at Montpelier Street in Knightsbridge.
- The shape of a weekViewing days, then evening salesPublic viewing runs for several days beforehand. Evening sales begin early in the evening and day sales follow the next morning.
- Nearest private terminalsLondon City, Farnborough, Luton, Biggin HillLondon City is the quickest into Mayfair for a smaller aircraft. Farnborough and Luton take everything else.
Individual sale dates are published by each house a few months ahead and move between years. We plan around the diary you are actually working to.
Next dates
Tell me when the dates are announced
The 2027 dates for London major auction weeks are not confirmed yet. Leave your email and we will tell you as soon as they are announced, so the travel can be planned while the best options are still open.
Thank you. We will email you as soon as the dates are announced.
What the week is really like
Nobody goes to one sale. They go to five buildings in a day
Collectors, advisers and assistants holding the diary all work to the same pattern. Mornings are viewings: two or three salerooms, sometimes a dealer's back room in between, and a lot of standing about in front of a picture. Late afternoon is for last conversations with specialists. The evening sale is the fixed point, and afterwards there is either a dinner or a very quick exit, depending on whether the lot went the right way.
None of that is predictable enough to book as a series of transfers. Viewings overrun, a specialist appears with something in a storeroom on the other side of Mayfair, and the sale before yours takes twenty minutes longer than the estimate. What works is a car and a chauffeur held for the day who knows where he is allowed to wait in each street and can be at the door within a minute of a call.
The geography
Close together, and impossible to park in
King Street to New Bond Street is a quarter of an hour on foot through St James's and across Piccadilly, and Berkeley Square is a few minutes from either. That sounds like it solves the problem, and on a dry afternoon with nothing to carry it does. It stops solving it when it rains, when there are catalogues and a coat to manage, when a viewing finishes at nine in the evening, or when the party includes someone who should not be walking that far.
The real constraint is the kerb. Mayfair, St James's and Knightsbridge are among the most tightly controlled streets in London: residents' bays, short loading windows, camera enforced restrictions, and a Congestion Charge zone over all of it. A chauffeur who works these streets every week knows which side of King Street he can stand on at seven in the evening and which he cannot, where to wait out of the way near Berkeley Square, and how to get from Montpelier Street to New Bond Street when Hyde Park Corner is solid. That knowledge is most of what you are paying for. In London the cars are our own and the chauffeurs are employed by us.
Journey times
Into the saleroom district
| Journey | Quiet roads | Weekday, sale week |
|---|---|---|
| London City to Mayfair | 30 to 45 minutes | 40 minutes to 1 hour 10 |
| Heathrow to Mayfair | 45 to 60 minutes | 1 hour to 1 hour 40 |
| Farnborough to Mayfair | 55 to 75 minutes | 1 hour 10 to 1 hour 50 |
| Luton to Mayfair | 45 to 70 minutes | 1 hour to 1 hour 40 |
| New Bond Street to King Street | 5 to 15 minutes | About 15 minutes on foot, often quicker than the car |
| Knightsbridge to Mayfair | 10 to 20 minutes | 20 to 35 minutes |
Realistic planning ranges, not promises. Between six and eight in the evening, the walk frequently beats the car across Mayfair, and we will tell you so.
What clients usually book
A car for the day, not a set of transfers
- One car and one chauffeur held from the first viewing until after the sale, with the route rebuilt as the day changes
- A late finish allowed for, because an evening sale that starts at seven does not necessarily end at nine
- Collection from London City, Farnborough or Luton for clients flying in for a single sale
- A second car for staff, catalogues or anything being carried
- A standing arrangement through the week for advisers and specialists working the whole season
- Dinner afterwards in Mayfair or St James's, with the car waiting rather than sent away
Book early
Sale evenings concentrate demand
Several hundred people want a car outside the same two buildings within the same twenty minutes. Give us your sale dates as soon as the catalogues are out and we will plan the evenings properly rather than improvising them.
Around the season
Related pages
The service
Arriving in London
Request a quote
Tell us which sales
Which sales you are attending, which days you want the car, how many of you and where you are staying. We reply with a clear plan and a price for the day or the week. Nothing is booked or charged online.
Prefer to talk? +44 2030 048300 or WhatsApp, at any hour.
Questions people ask
About auction week travel
Can the car wait outside the saleroom?
Not always, and anyone who promises otherwise does not know these streets. King Street, New Bond Street and Berkeley Square are tightly controlled and camera enforced. Your chauffeur waits at the nearest point he is allowed to and is at the door within a minute of your call.
We do not know when the sale will end. Does that matter?
No. That is exactly why clients hold the car for the evening rather than booking a pick up time. Your chauffeur stays until you come out.
Can you carry works we have bought?
No. We carry you and your luggage. Purchases leave through the house's own shipping arrangements or a specialist art shipper, and we will work around their collection times.
Do you work with the auction houses?
We are an independent chauffeur company. We are booked by collectors, advisers, dealers and assistants who attend the sales, not by the houses, and we claim no relationship with any of them.
Can you cover the whole season rather than one evening?
Yes, and it is the sensible way for anyone working the full week. An account gives you one contact, consistent chauffeurs and a single monthly statement rather than a quote for every journey. See open an account.
