About Berrys

About Berrys

Berrys: “The leading provider of added value to property and business.”

Berrys is a leading property services partnership. It has currently five main offices in the UK, in Northamptonshire, Shropshire, and Cheshire, but covering a much wider area – ranging from Manchester in the North, to Berkshire in the South.  Our head office is in Kettering, and our VAT number is 576 6379 85.

Our staff of consultants, agents, and practitioners provide advice on a large range of topics, from property sales and lettings, property management, valuations, development and planning, auctions, marketing, rural business, environment, media, and Information Technology.

History of the company:

In 1890 two local Kettering farmers, John and Edmund Berry, established a firm to advise fellow farmers in tenant-right and valuation matters and to conduct auctions in the local area.  The brothers were then joined by Levi Bagshaw and traded for many years as Berry Brothers and Bagshaw.

The influence and expertise of W. C. Farnsworth CBE and later Leslie Northen OBE, both of whom held the office of President of the Agricultural Division of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, established a national reputation for the firm.

The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a rapid expansion of the firm’s office base throughout the Midlands, and the amalgamation with Legge & Sismey in Northampton led to a change of name to Berry Bros & Legge.

The fourteen-office practice was acquired by the Nationwide Building Society in 1987 and the agricultural division became known as Berry Agricultural.

On 1st May 1992 six of the practitioners bought the Kettering and Shrewsbury offices from the Nationwide and created the Berry Bros & Holmes partnership.  ‘Berry Bros’ represented the five partners at Kettering, who were joined by Graham Holmes at Shrewsbury.

In 2000 we purchased new offices in Headlands, Kettering, and built a new set of offices at Shrewsbury. At that the time we felt that the time was right to simplify and consolidate our name and therefore we decided to practice as BERRYS, which we felt turned full circle to the origins of the firm, and, we hope, conveys our desire to maintain our long-established values of professionalism and straightforward representation of our clients’ interests.

The partnership expanded into Cheshire with a merger with A. G. Bowcock & Co in 2001, and subsequently the firm of Sutcliffe & Co. of Chester was acquired.  A new office was established in Northwich in 2005.

We have practitioners who are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers specialising in the well-established areas of business traditionally associated with agricultural surveyors.  Since 1992 we have become increasingly involved in planning and diversification matters and have developed a strong rural business department specialising in appraisals, restructuring and all other matters affecting agricultural businesses.

The objective is to provide a comprehensive service to all sectors of the agricultural and rural land based industries.