Goodbye Harry! Renowned NW estate agent and auctioneer dies at 82
Harry Sutcliffe worked for Oystons as an estate agent for more than 20 years before setting up his own agency with his wife Christine.
Former Oystons and independent estate agent Harry Sutcliffe has died at the age of 82, it has been reported.
Sutcliffe, who had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease, was well-known in his home town of Blackpool and the North West where he worked his entire career.
The Lancashire Post reports that he was a talented footballer attending trials with Aston Villa before starting at an an estate agency called Oystons (which was bought by a rival in 2019) in the late 1960s, rising to become a manager and trainer with the company.
After 22 years with the firm, Sutcliffe and his wife Christine (main picture) set up Harry Sutcliffe Ltd, an independent agency and auctioneer.
“I JUST FELL IN LOVE”
The couple had met at Oystons where Christine was a typist in the legal department.
“My boss said ‘this is Mr Sutcliffe’ and I turned around to shake his hand and I just fell in love with him,” Christine recalls.
“We moved in together in 1990 and got married in 2011 – Harry took a long time to make decisions!”
You couldn’t walk down the street without someone stopping and saying ‘hello, Harry.”
Sutcliffe was named Personality of the Year at the Blackpool Gazette’s Homes Alternative Property Awards in 2002, voted by his fellow estate agents.
He retired in 2007 having valued at least 20,000 properties by his own estimation.
“You couldn’t walk down the street without someone stopping and saying ‘hello, Harry’,” says Christine.
“It’s wonderful to receive so many kind words from former clients, it’s really keeping me going.”
Picture: Christine Sutcliffe and Lancashire Post
Read more about Blackpool estate agents.
