Two new estate agents for Unthank Road
The estate agents William H Brown have opened their first branch in the Golden Triangle. Meanwhile another premises on Unthank Road will become an up-market estate agents in the new year. But times are “still challenging” for those in the business of buying and selling houses.
The new branch of William H Brown opened on Unthank Road on Friday. The company’s area manager, Giles Hart said: “We’ve been looking to open a branch in the area for the past 4 or 5 months and were waiting for the right premises to come up.” The branch office is in the former Edward Jones Investments building. He added: “Primarily it’s a fashionable part of town and we wanted to provide a specialist service to buyers and sellers in that area.”
Meanwhile another estate agency is due to open on the same road in the new year. The developer who bought the former Norwich and Peterborough building society on Unthank Road had hoped to open his new estate agency business this September. But a prolonged planning application set his plans back. Charlie Webster now hopes to open his up-market estate agency business, called Websters, by February. Builders have started work demolishing and rebuilding an extension to the rear of the property.
But this isn’t necessarily a sign that things are on the up. Giles Hart adds: “I think it’s a case of a couple of premises have come available at the same time. The market is still quite tough and it’s still a challenging time.”
Charlie Webster has also bought a second vacant property on Unthank Road, what was A. Burrell & Son. He says that project could take 18 months: “We don’t know exactly what we’ll do with the building but we want to get it right. We’re not sure what the planners will allow but it could be a cafe, a restaurant… we’re still working it out. We’re looking at food, retail, wines, an art gallery or even a mix of things. It’s a big unit with room to extend it so we’ll talk with the council and local people before we decide.”
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