Great grandson of Jackson-Stops founder reveals why he won’t work for family firm
George Jackson-Stops worked for Winkworth, Cluttons and Strutt & Parker prior to setting up his own company, buying agent GJS Property.
The great grandson of Jackson-Stops founder Herbert Jackson-Stops has revealed that he is to strike out and found his own company after seven years spent working in the industry.
George Jackson-Stops has launched GJS Property and is now seeking to establish himself as a buying agent and already has several clients.
Before setting up the company he worked most recently at Strutt & Parker but also before that at Cluttons and Winkworth.
“I’m the fourth generation of the family involved in the property game but I’m the only one who hasn’t worked for Jackson-Stops,” he says.
“At the beginning I made a conscious decision that I didn’t want to work for a Jackson-Stops office because I didn’t want people thinking it was my family connections that had got me the job.
“Hopefully GJS will the next chapter in the Jackson-Stops story – my dad has just retired after 40-plus years running the company’s Northampton office.”
Red tape
George says part of the reason why he decided to set up GJS is that working at Strutt & Parker had become a lot more complicated by regulatory red tape because, as a part of BNP Paribas, it must adhere to regulations much more strictly.
“For example it made implementing Anti Money Laundering rules much harder because BNP was very strict,” he says.
“In the back of mind it was one of the reasons why I decided to set up my own company.”
George also says he launched GJS because, if its launch can survive the current tough market then he’ll be in a good position when it revives, he says.
