Pour a glass of wine. Make a coffee. Get comfortable. The Two Russells are back.
Episode 60 sees Russell and Russell joined by Anthony Payne, Managing Director of LonRes, for a brilliant conversation about property, people and the rather unconventional route that took Anthony to the heart of the prime Central London market.
He left school at 16. He wanted a job at Cecil Gee because he fancied the staff discount. His dad told him that if he was going to use his “big mouth” to sell something, he might as well sell something valuable.
So he chose property.
From earning £50 a week making calls in a Golders Green estate agency, and being fired from his first job in fairly extraordinary circumstances – to walking past Beauchamp Estates in Chelsea in 1985, falling in love with the place and talking his way into a job, Anthony has some fantastic stories to tell.
We also get under the skin of LonRes: why membership is carefully controlled, the checks agents must pass, how its technology transformed a paper-based process, and why collaboration and access to the right information remain so important to its B2B network.
Today LonRes has a team of around 45, but Anthony’s focus remains firmly on giving agents the tools and flexibility they need to deliver an exceptional service to their clients.
And away from property? He talks beautifully about his 18-month-old daughter, who he describes simply as “pure joy”.
Anthony is charming, articulate, incredibly well connected and knows his industry inside out. This is a lovely one to settle into.
