Your Grosvenor Story
After leaving university, I did a brief stint in PR and as a copywriter for a property marketing firm and from there rather fell into the world of estate agency working for both smaller independent firms and a larger corporate firm. I have been in estate agency for over 20 years now, the majority of which has been covering Hinchley Wood and The Dittons. I’ve led our Hinchley Wood office since 2009, becoming a partner in the firm in 2014. Moving home is quite a big event in a person’s life and I really enjoy making it happen. It’s the people rather than the properties that keep the job interesting and I still love hearing great feedback about what we do at Grosvenor that dispels the preconception people have of estate agents.
Tell us about you outside of work
I’m a busy man as a married father of three young children and owner of a mad Cocker Spaniel, living down the road in Epsom where I grew up. Inevitably between work and a young family, spare time isn’t in abundance. When I do find some, I enjoy playing golf very badly (I’m a member at Surbiton Golf Club), jogging rather slowly, having taken it up later in life to keep the ‘Dad bod’ in check, and gardening with varying degrees of success. My absolute favourite things to do are dining out with friends, particularly at the rather excellent The French Table in Surbiton, and family summer holidays in the Dordogne.
Favourite bit of the house
Got to be the garden. There’s usually somebody who has already said what you’d like to only better and this quote from Alfred Austin sums it up pretty perfectly for me, “The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.”
Fun fact
I was on a Channel 4 TV programme with Sarah Beeny looking at ‘High Street vs Online’ estate agents. Fortunately, my advice proved correct and my reputation remained intact, if not so much for the online outfit!
Favourite
I’m a bit music mad although have reached an age my CD collection doesn’t grow too much into new artists and my kids think I’m very uncool. A CD collection in itself probably already ages me. I love everything from Blues to Electronic Dance, Rock n Roll to Hip Hop and even the odd night out at the Opera. My guiltiest pleasure, the band who I have all of their albums and have seen live a couple of times, the one and only ZZ Top.
Three items you would take to a desert island
I quite enjoy a bit of solitude, so mentally I’m already packed for this! My iPod classic certainly. My wife bought me the 80Gb one many years ago and it’s got my entire collection on it. Some seeds for growing flowers and veggies if I’m to become self-sufficient and enjoy creating a little paradise. Lastly, I’m probably reaching at item but the entire series of Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O’Brien. Amazing tales of derring-do and survival on the Napoleonic high seas, also possibly inspirational for life on a desert island.