by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Kent's newest events complex is to be sponsored by colourful autioneer Clive Emson.

Under a 10-year deal worth more than £100,000, the refurbished building at the Kent Showground, Detling, is to be called the Clive Emson Conference Centre.

Mr Emson is an entertaining and charismatic character who has become well known at home and abroad for his televised auctioneering style.

Kent County Agricultural Society, the showground owner, has invested £1.1 million in a major facelift for the former Stanley Cornwallis building.

From June, the centre will become home to Clive Emson's eight auctions a year previously held at the Ramada Hotel and Resort, Hollingbourne.

These are attended by as many as 1,000 people and fire chiefs were concerned that the hotel could no longer safely accommodate such big numbers.

KCAS was looking for a sponsor and Mr Emson was happy with the new facility. KCAS chairman George Jessel said he was delighted. It was important for the showground to align itself not only with agriculture but also with business.

"Clive is a man of character and having a building named after him fitted his profile," he said. "His sponsorship has helped us with set-up costs and going with a young up-and-coming company like Clive Emson, who, like us, is fiercely Kentish, will encourage other businesses to use Kent Events Centre."

Mr Emson, a former estate agent whose Maidstone-based auction business has just celebrated its 21st anniversary, said he would be proud to see his name on the new centre.

"It is the next step forward after 21 years," he said. "It's going forward into the future rather than dwelling in the past."

The new centre will be home to product launches, conferences, auctions, smaller meetings and livestock displays. It is the first phase in a two-phase project that includes a £6 million events centre to replace the Pavilion.