Tony McDonough meets ROB FARNHAMCEO of Venmore

MANY people living in Wirral will be familiar with the name Bradshaw, Farnham and Lea.

The estate agency chain was set up in 2003 and is now well established on the peninsula.

But Rob Farnham and his co-founder Paul Lea, friends for 30 years, always had ambitions to expand across Merseyside and in 2008, they got the opportunity to do just that with the acquisition of one of Liverpool’s best known property firms – Venmore.

“When we started out in 2003 our ambitions were to be a Merseyside-wide agency with 10 branches,” said Farnham, 51.

“By 2007 we had three branches but then the crash came and no one knew how long it was going to last.”

However, the pair believed the business was robust enough to carry on growing.

Farnham added: “We bought an existing agency in Prenton and then acquired some Sykes Waterhouse branches and by late 2008 we had seven branches across Wirral.

“We saw this as a great opportunity to expand further as long as we had the courage and the cash.”

It was around that time that Farnham and Lea both saw a gloomy report on BBC’s Northwest Tonight about the housing market.

One of the interviewees was Venmore director Phil Furlong.

“He was talking about the market and he looked a bit stressed,” said Farnham.

At the time there had been rumours in the Liverpool business scene that Venmore – which had been in existence since 1849 – was struggling but the firm was strenuous in its denials.

Said Farnham: “We got in touch with Phil Furlong and said we were interested in buying two of their estate agency branches.

“They told us they were not interested and that everything was fine with the firm.

“About a week later we got a call from one of the partners who invited us to a meeting.

“He admitted they did not have the cash to pay staff salaries for October but was still quite bullish about the prospects for the firm.

“He wanted us to go into partnership with them but we could not see the value in the figures he was quoting.”

Shortly afterwards Venmore – which included 21 branches and a property auction division – collapsed into administration and Farnham and Lea then made their move.

“In just 12 months, Venmore had gone from having a 25% profit margin from a £4m turnover to going to the wall,” said Farnham.

“We looked at the business more closely and we saw how fantastic it was. The lettings business alone managed more than 2,000 properties and generated an annual income of £1.2m a year.

“We also thought the auction business was something we would love to get involved in.

“The auction name was still strong and we really felt we could turn the business around.”

And turn it around they did.

Venmore is now part of the wider BFL Group which operates across Merseyside as far up as Southport and into North Wales.

Other brands in the group include Ball and Percival and William Gleave. It employs more than 80 people and is split into four divisions – estate agency, lettings, auctions and financial services which helps people to source mortgages.

Despite the tough economic climate Farnham insists the business is in good health and claims that is down to its diversity.

He said: “We have a balanced book of revenue streams – 40% is house sales, 40% is property management and 20% is from the auctions and from professional fees.

“We are strong in Hoylake, West Kirby and Heswall and those areas are about as close to being recession-proof as you can get.”

He admits the sales market is static but says people are still buying and that the banks are starting to loosen their purse strings.

He added: “There is some confidence out there.

“You can now get 90% mortgages whereas last year it was only around 85% and the application fees have also gone down.

“The lettings market is very strong and the banks will lend to buy-to-let landlords who have a good track record.”

Farnham was born and brought up in Pembrokeshire and his family moved to Wirral when he was 11.

His father worked on motorways for construction giant McAlpine.

After completing his A levels the teenage Farnham joined McAlpine as a trainee quantity surveyor but his career was short-lived.

He said: “I hated it so I gave it up and went travelling around Europe for a couple of years.

“I worked on building sites in the early 1980s – I did a bit of everything.”

He then joined electronics giant Phillips as a trainee, working in Manchester and then Cambridge.

He stayed with the firm for 13 years, during which they sponsored him to gain an MBA at Keele University.

By the time he reached his early 30s, Farnham was sales and marketing director in the firm’s business services division.

He was then approached by a US-based software company to run its UK operation. He accepted and moved back to the North West.

He ran another software business in Wales for five years before becoming the chief executive of Liverpool law firm Silverbeck Rymer.

He did that for two years before joining forces with Paul Lea, an established property professional.

Nick Bradshaw, a PR and marketing professional, also helped them set up the business and remains a shareholder.

“I had been dabbling in property since my 20s,” said Farnham.

“I was always dismayed at the quality of service in estate agencies. If you’re selling a house you can’t change the product but what you can do is service the pants off people.”

Farnham lives in Wirral with wife Joanna, a nursery teacher, and their children Megan, 14, and Lilly, 11.

He added: “Mine and Paul’s job as bosses is to keep people that work for us happy so they keep the customer happy and that in turn ensures the shareholders are happy.”