Senior industry figure to step down after 50 years in same town

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…