Senior industry figure to step down after 50 years in same town
Simon Arnes is to retire after a long career including a job at the top of Connells while being Norfolk based all those years.
An senior estate agency figure who has notched up 50 years of working in both the same town and agency in Norfolk is to retire.
Simon Arnes (main picture), who works for Connells as its national operations director, has been working as an estate agent at the same location since starting out back in 1972 in the town of Dereham.
Arnes, who says he intends to retire next year at the end of march, started his career working as an office boy at what was then TH Warren & Son, later to become William H Brown estate agents, part of the Sequence group of agencies.
He then rose through the ranks to become a divisional MD for the group’s eastern and central divisions running some 100 sales branches, two auction centres and 40 lettings offices, the Dereham Times reports.
Six years ago Arnes was appointed group estate agency operations director for the entire Connells network, which includes Sequence which it bought during 2003.
warning
Arnes helped make headlines during the early days of Covid when he warned both colleagues and competitor agencies that criminals were targeting estate agency branches during the pandemic to steal employee’s personal belongings.
“I have been privileged to work with talented individuals throughout my career, and I’m proud of the fact that many of my colleagues are now in senior positions running the company,” he says.
“When I started, we had just two branches in Norfolk and now we have 24, with William H Brown the largest trading name in Connells Group.
“I have managed to keep my Norfolk roots throughout my career, having started in Dereham and where I’m still based today.”
I worked for Simon at Bagshaws Property Auctions in the years leading up to my retirement and wish him well in his. His loyalty to the one Company throughout his career earned him well deserved dividends. He is a fine example of how a tiny minority of individuals can profit massively in the Corporate Environment..