One of the more puzzling questions in London's estate agency industry has been resolved - how a company which appears to have no one called Dexter in a leading position ends up being called Dexters.
Now Jeff Doble, chief executive of the 80-branch London agency chain Dexters, has revealed all - he is a self-confessed cricket nut and named the company after the former England cricketer.
“I’m a big cricket fan, he was a boyhood hero, and Doble doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue" says Doble, in an interview for a London Evening Standard article about leading entrepreneurs operating in the capital.
The piece describes him as 'annoyingly modest' and quotes him as saying: “We are not flash and nor am I. We are a boring business. Effectively we’ve grown from the fruits of our labour.”
The company began as a single branch in Twickenham back in 1993 and is now a chain forecasting 11 per cent turnover growth to £75.5m this year.
Although Doble tells the newspaper that “we aspire to be the top agent in town” he admits to launching the agency “on a credit card and on a wing and a prayer” and it enjoyed a totally dire first year of trading.
Doble - who the newspaper says voted to remain in the EU - says he has no intention of floating his company and is dismissive of the threat to traditional full service agency from onliners.
“There’s some great property tech around, but I liken it all to people inventing Uber but forgetting that somebody has got to drive the cars and have cars. It’s a great app, but somebody’s got to provide the oomph on the ground” he says.
You can read the full piece here.
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