160-year-old estate agency sold to national group

Estate agents butters john bee has been bought by the Spicerhaart Group.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, sees the Stoke-on-Trent headquartered company become part of the UK’s largest independent estate agency group.

Spicerhaart has 200 branches and 2,000 staff nationwide working for its brands, which include haart, Darlows and Haybrook.

butters john bee, which was founded in 1856, has 19 branches along the M6 corridor between Macclesfield and Wolverhampton. It will continue to trade under the bjb brand.

James Beardmore, bjb’s managing director, said: “This is a very exciting time for us as it means we will be able to offer additional services to our customers and more career development opportunities, training and rewards to our 200 staff.”

Both firms offer similar services, providing residential sales, lettings, conveyancing, surveying and financial services, while bjb also auctions residential properties and sells, lets and manages commercial property. Spicerhaart also offers corporate sales through its Blackpool office and has a land and new homes division.

Spicerhaart’s chief executive Paul Smith added: “butters john bee is an extremely well run estate agency business and we are delighted to welcome the bjb team into our family. Both firms are award-winning and we will be sharing best practice across both organisations.”