The Farmers Mart Feb/Mar 2014 - Issue 32 | Page 54

property

Chris Clubley and Co.,
One of East Yorkshire’s best known independent estate
agents, surveyors and auctioneers will celebrate 25 years
of serving the agricultural community this year.
The hamlet of Kiplingcotes
near Market Weighton
in East Yorkshire stages
the oldest flat race in the
country. It happens once a
year on a Thursday in March
and there is just one race,
The Kiplingcotes Derby.
This is unknown to many
people across Yorkshire
and certainly the U.K. but
this special event together
with Yorkshire’s beguiling
countryside and warm
communities are something
very close to Chris Clubley’s
heart.
A farmer’s Son, Chris arrived in
Kiplingcotes at the age of 6, and
today proprietor of Chris Clubley
and Co., one of East Yorkshire’s
best known Independent
Estate Agents, Surveyors and
Auctioneers has brought up
his family and invested his life
in a career serving the region
he knows and loves. With a
keen interest in Auctioneering
Chris left his local Secondary
School in Market Weighton and
joined a highly reputable local
Estate Agents and Auctioneers
in Malton. The next four years
would see Chris working 6
days and studying 3 hours
every night to pass The Royal
Institute of Chartered Surveyors
examinations, rewarding his
diligence with a pint down
at The Pipe and Glass each
night.
The spur to establishing his
own business came 25 years
ago at a time when big national
Agents were “hoovering” up
local Branches. The buy out
of the Malton based Agency
Chris had worked for since
leaving School quickly left him
in no doubt that meeting the

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Feb/Mar 2014 FarmersMart

Chris Clubley and Jonathan Wood

impersonal and target driven
demands of a London based
team of Accountants didn’t
suggest a rosy future…….
Armed with a wealth of practical
expertise and local contacts it
was time to open Chris Clubley
and Co. founded on in-depth
local knowledge and personal
service.
In September 1989 Chris
opened the doors on his first
Office in Market Weighton;
a tricky time as the property
slump of the early 1990s led
to a difficult first year as Chris
remembers “starting on the
entrance to a Recession in
the property market taught
me an awful lot about how to
survive…..” Chris had not only to
survive but establish a trust of
Business.
From Residential Sales
to Livestock Markets and
Commercial Valuations to
Antiques Auctions diversity has
always been a key part of the
success but the Agricultural side
is the closest to Chris’ heart.
In 2001 Jonathan Wood
moved from Barnsley based
Land Agents Wilbys to join
Chris Clubley and Co. Having a
similar history to Chris, being a
farmer’s Son and having worked
for the local Agent for several
years, Jonathan immediately
gelled with Chris and fitted into

his new environment. I.A.C.S.
and M.A.F.F. continuously
changing the rules for claiming
farming subsidies brought a
huge influx of clients in the early
days and then the change over
from I.A.C.S. to Single Farm
Payment in 2005 brought in a
new tranch of clients wanting
professional subsidy advice.
The uncertainty of the change
brought about a stagnation of
land sales in 2003 and 2005,
which hurt some of the bigger
national Agents, but brought
about an opportunity for Chris
Clubley and Co. to establish
more and more contacts with
hard working farmers. In 2011
the business stepped forward
again bringing in Joanna Hosdell
from Savills in Shropshire, this
time a farmer’s Daughter, to
further strengthen the team.

Agricultural Department and
2014/2015 set to be a trying
and busy time. Farmers will not
only have to come to terms with
the low commodity prices and
the increasing volatile weather
but will also have to negotiate
the new change in subsidies
from Single Farm Payment to
basic payment and greening
and Chris Clubley and Co., look
forward to helping guide them
through the coming years.

Left to right: Dara O’Briain,
Sarah Ducker, Rebecca
Ducker, Angela Midwood,
Kirstie Wallace-Hart
and Chris Clubley.

Chris believes the success
of the business is down to
a combination of having a
professional well qualified
and experienced team linked
with a highly motivated and
professional Sales Team and
winning the Relocation Agent
Network’s prestigious 2013
Best Agent in Yorkshire Award
at the Annual Conference
underlines this.

‘Well qualified and
experienced team’
Joanna Hosdell

All the hard work in the early
years is now beginning to reap
rewards with 2013 being the
most successful year yet for the

Chris Clubley and Co., want
to thank all their clients for the
support they have given the
Company over the past 25 years
and look forward to working with
them for many years to come.

To read more, visit www.farmers-mart.co.uk