About Us: -

Arthur Bray Ltd is a family owned and run commercial property business based in Poole, Dorset.

Currently, the company is primarily involved in the ownership and letting of industrial properties, mainly in the Poole area. However, Arthur Bray Ltd also owns and/or manages a number of industrial sites and offices, within an hour’s drive of Poole.

Arthur Bray's Yard comprises of a group of industrial buildings located on West Quay Road and these stretch right back to the harbour water's edge (between the Old Town lifting bridge and the new Twins Sails lifting bridge).

Our commercial tenants include a diverse range of businesses from marine and steel fabrication engineers, to a fashion designer and an artist.

Often seen around Arthur bray's Yard is Trelawny Burt (Estate Manager), who has a "hands on" but "light touch" approach to estate management. He ensures the smooth operation of the Yard for the benefit of all existing tenants and is the contact person for anybody who wishes to enquire about leasing a unit.

Our History: -

Arthur Bray Ltd had its origins in the marine industry; Arthur Bray himself was a pioneer in early automobile and motor boat racing. This led him to become involved in selling motor boats, notably Chris-Craft speedboats from the USA and the superlative Italian Riva motor boats.

He served in the Royal Navy, and was in charge of a 50 foot torpedo boat patrolling the English channel during World War I.

His achievements include serving as vice-commodore of the British Motor Boat Club, and as part of his long involvement in competitive motor boating he broke the 24 sea-mile record in Poole Harbour in 1934, with a speed of 36.55 mph.

The company was started in the late 1920s - importing and selling motor boats.

Initially they had a showroom in Baker Street in London, before relocating to Poole after World War II.

In 1964, they moved to 4 West Quay Road, where they held the exclusive UK agencies for a number of prestigious brands; Chris-Craft, Riva and Mercury Outboards, amongst others.

The Burt Family purchased Arthur Bray Ltd from the directors of the David Brown Corporation in early 1970, and purchased the yard the following year, continuing to run a boat yard and marine related businesses there until the middle 1990s.

Having had spare space on site beyond what the Arthur Bray companies needed to run their operations, unoccupied buildings were offered as units to rent. This has continued over the intervening 40 or so years, with all sorts of businesses and occupants on site over that period.