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Famous Kent estate agency celebrates its 100th year in business

Wards was one of the big estate agencies snapped up during the 1980s by the Prudential, but is now part of the Arun Group of agencies.

Nigel Lewis

wards estate agency

Forty-plus branch estate agency Wards is celebrating its 100th year in business as it joins the exclusive club of property firms to have reached the milestone.

Wards was established in Gillingham, Kent in 1922 and remained a family-run business until the early 1990s, saying its success over the years has been in part due to its strong community ties.

The company has donated some £12 million to local charities during the past 30 years alone and this year it’s partnered with The Children’s Trust to raise vital funds to support children with brain injury in the UK.

Wards, which has won several Negotiator Awards,  was bought in 1991 by Paul Rooney, founder of Arun Estates, and is now part of an estate agency  group that includes Cubitt & West and Douglas & Allen.

estate agency

estate agencyArun’s Group Managing Director Aldo Sotgiu (pictured) says: “It is with great pride that we celebrate the centenary year of Wards.

“Supporting such a wonderful community for so many years, we’ve grown with the times to give our customers the best experience possible.”

“In the past few years alone, we’ve seen a lot of new property trends, and so many impressive records that have been broken. We’d stayed constant by our communities side in times of need, supporting, advising and helping wherever and whenever we can.”

Wards was known as Ward & Partners and then Wards of Kent until it rebranded in 2019 as Wards. The company went through its greatest period of growth under the chairmanship of Dennis Paulley and family, who sold out to the Prudential during the 1980s.

He remains one of the UK’s richest property industry magnates – a recent ‘rich list’ claimed the family still has a £105m stake in the Prudential financial group following the takeover.

August 15, 2022

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