As they prepare to celebrate their 20th year in business, Patrick Smitheman and Dean Millington reveal an unusual twist to the origins of Harwood The Estate Agents.
For the Shropshire based estate agency, with offices in Broseley and Wellington, originally took the name HarWood.
The Har came from Marcus Harris, Dean Millington’s cousin, and the Wood from Steve Woodall, brother of former world boxing champion Ritchie.
When Marcus and Steve decided to focus on their careers in financial services, Patrick, who had joined the firm in 1999, took over and later bought the estate agency business with Dean.
“We agreed to slightly change the brand, deciding to take out the capital W, and trademark the current logo,” said Patrick who runs the Broseley office of Harwood The Estate Agents.
“There followed a difficult 10 years of trading, suffered by all too many during that time, but we have subsequently become an extremely well known and trusted Shropshire brand.”
Dean said: “Patrick and I have never forgotten the origins of our company and will always be grateful to both Marcus and Steve for their brainchild 20 years’ ago.
“We have continued the mantra as we strive to offer Shropshire consumers a quality high street personable and approachable estate agents in these modern times.
“And although Harwood embraces new technologies, we feel it is more important than ever in these changing times to offer the consumer a traditional face-to-face property service.”
Patrick added: “We believe Harwood provides a consistently high level of service because we allow our staff to be proactive rather than reactive in their respective professional roles.
“All 20 members of our staff are enthusiastic and driven and want to be a strong part of the team for the next 20 years and more– the staff treat the business as if it was their own.”
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