Change is inevitable but adapting to change insures longevity. Running and maintaining a successful business requires a sound ethos with solid values and an exceptional level of service delivered by seasoned professionals who know their business, their customers and their clients. Estate agency is a volatile business, challenges along the journey can be testing and frequent, survival requires grit and determination but also the ability to adapt and embrace change.
Trading for 30 years is a remarkable achievement and to celebrate this milestone Phillips and Stubbs celebrated their 30th anniversary by inviting guests to join them last weekend for informal drinks at their newly re-liveried offices at 47/49 Cinque Ports Street, Rye.
On arrival, guests were presented with a specially commissioned, limited edition book which travels the journey across West Kent and East Sussex, a highly detailed account of our local heritage featuring a stunning selection of properties handled by Phillips and Stubbs over the years and featuring a series of drawings by artist Victor Herbert which were also exhibited around the office walls for all to enjoy.
Victor, along with his wife Judith, designed and produced this superb publication and they also co-wrote it along with Martyn Stubbs and the late Dilys Mayor who many of us knew and loved, a long and faithful employee for 25 years who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Phillips and Stubbs have always moved with the times and over the 30 year period have adapted their premises along the way. The facia in the 2014 photograph (complete with road works) was brought right up to date when it was repainted in battleship grey (very on trend at the time) but this year French green is the colour of choice for their new facia and livery. Their prominently positioned offices stand out from the crowd in their resplendent new colour which didn’t just happen by chance. French green was finally chosen after a great deal of research, colour swatches and consultation with the planners, conservation society and professional bodies.
For the anniversary celebration the office also underwent a temporary internal transformation, the smart desks and equipment were removed, replaced with rows of chairs and taking pride of place, a shiny black Yamaha grand piano. The office was now a concert venue and with all seats taken we eagerly awaited a very special guest, Martyn’s daughter.
Harriet Stubbs is a critically acclaimed concert pianist dividing her time between Los Angeles, London and the Cayman Islands and her home in New York and has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame since being invited to play at the Blackheath International Piano festival at the age of eight. We all enjoyed a 40-minute recital when Harriet entertained us with a selection of the repertoire from the series of the Daily Socially Distanced Concerts and her forthcoming album. Her performance was breath-taking, passionate and faultless.
During the pandemic she gave 250 concerts from the window of her London apartment and in recognition has been awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the arts and her community.
After her recital, following rapturous applause she gratefully received a beautiful bouquet, presented by a very proud father.
On duty at the anniversary celebrations were the whole Phillips and Stubbs team: Victor and Judith Herbert, who were able to guide us through the book and show us the paintings which now adorn the office walls; Ed Gailey and Larissa Faithful from the lettings team; Kim Usher, Barbara Hawley, Georgie Caister, Julia Daniel and Tamsin Visick from the sales team who were all there to meet us and making sure everything went to plan; and Martyn’s wife, Paula, was at the helm as always. To complete the family, Jason Stubbs, head of residential sales was also in attendance.
Congratulations to all at Phillips and Stubbs, 30 successful years of trading is a remarkable achievement but I felt an extract from their latest Coastal and Country book said it all.
“Regarded as a major force in the area, Phillips and Stubbs is an energetic, forward- thinking and dynamic firm providing a creative and highly effective service in contemporary estate agency based on traditional values of integrity, professionalism and straight talking advice, firmly rooted in the delivery of outstanding customer service.”
Last Sunday, the piano was taken away, the audience seating removed too. With desks, computers and phones back in situ and after a very busy, highly successful weekend, it was business as usual.
You can follow Harriet Stubbs on harrietstubbs.com, and her audio CD and download, Heaven &Hell: The Doors of Perception is available at Amazon.
Image Credits: Nick Forman , Barbara Hawley , Rye News Library .
Huge Congratulations!!! I could not recommend a better firm .Martyn was our estate agent when we bought our incredible house from the wonderful Dilys and were again incredible when we sold recently 25 years later! Best wishes to Martyn and his fantastic team…the best agents and the most supportive!
I feel very proud to have been at the very beginning of Phillips and Stubbs in Rye when they generously offered their space as the Box Office for the Rye Festival. I was lucky to run the Box Office for 14 years each autumn.
It can’t have been easy having so many people drifting in at regular intervals to ask questions and buy tickets with no idea that they were in a place of business. I got quite neurotic about the interruptions but Martyn and his team could not have been more gracious! I had a ball doing my job there because of the friendship and generosity of the P and S team.
I am proud to be considered a friend .
I was also lucky to have spent time
with Dilys who I shared space with , and who we all sadly miss.
Congratulations to you all , I won’t ever forget how you stepped forward to help us when our premises at the Rye Retreat got flooded !
Such a professional and thoughtful team !
Kind regards from all of us across the road , also neighbours of the last 30 years !
Congratulations to you all. I have bought two houses from you and sold one. On each occasion you acted with professionalism but there was always a human touch. My late husband also worked in your offices for The Rye Arts Festival Box Office… you always made him coffee !!
Jane Conlin