For Sale: The Entire Contents Of Heathrow Terminal 1

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 81 months ago
For Sale: The Entire Contents Of Heathrow Terminal 1

"(15+) Kilometers of Stainless Hand and Foot rail systems". "(11) Luggage Reclaim Carousels". "(4,000+) Airport Seats".  "(5) Complete Airbridges (In storage)". So reads the inventory for the sale of this summer; the entire contents of Heathrow Terminal 1 is being plucked out and sold off.

But what kind of people buy up bits of an airport?

This would look lovely in your kitchen

Says Daniel Gray, from Global Partners — the company cataloguing and selling the assets — "There are two categories of buyer. The first is other airports — those that are not necessarily first world or Western."

Some of these airports, explains Gray will buy equipment first, then design the airport around whatever check-in desks, reclaim carousels and escalators, and various other furniture, they've purchased.

We weren't joking

"The other assets," says Gray, "are memorabilia. Signs, clocks... someone who used to work in immigration and wants to own their old desk."

We have an inkling that other interested buyers will be edgy drinking establishments across London; one aeronautically-themed bar in New Cross springs to mind.

Which might prove the most popular item of memorabilia? Gray reckons the large 'Terminal 1' sign on the front of the building, although he's unsure how much it might fetch. If you're outbid on that, you can always turn to smaller, more niche items, such as displays screens, seats or black and white backdrops of Tower Bridge.

This really does seem to be a case of everything must go.

Never be short on patio furniture again

Global Partners is still cataloguing the major assets at the moment — which appear in this catalogue [pdf]. Keep an eye out for the smaller gimcrack, which will begin to be auctioned off in the coming weeks or months. Unless, of course, you're in the process of building a new airport on a budget. In which case this article has probably made your day.

In the meantime, Terminal 1 remains functional to a degree, as it continues to process baggage. It's unclear what the future of the terminal building — which opened in 1968 — will be.

Would this fit in your living room? Then treat yourself
Some of these seats are so going to end up in a hipster gin bar in Deptford
Handy for queuing outside the bathroom if you've got loads of housemates
Confuse visitors by slapping this over your front door
Little Timmy's birthday present: sorted
Seriously, everything must go
This has got to be good for certain party games
Not sure what this is, but it could be yours

Last Updated 05 June 2017