Spicerhaart


Spicerhaart Group Ltd is an English estate agency and financial services company based in Colchester, Essex, and operating throughout the United Kingdom. It is the largest independent estate agency network in the UK.

History

The company has its origins in 1989, where father and son Alick and Paul Smith opened three branches of Spicer McColl in East Anglia. They took over 45 Darlows branches in 2000 when that company went into receivership, and acquired the South Yorkshire company Haybrook in 2007.
Spicerhaart purchased iSold estate agents from Tesco plc in 2008, after it was ruled that Tesco could not act as an estate agent without being registered as such. Spicerhaart and Tesco are now involved in a legal dispute.
During the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak SpicerHaart chose to fire hundres of staff with 2 minutes notice, during callous phone calls where they were not allowed to ask questions. This seemed to fly in the face of their “Spicerhaart family” company ethos.
Despite the government's announcement of covering 80% of employees’ salaries for some months - this action was called for by the CEO of the company, Paul Smith. The news was given at the end of Friday 20th March, demanding for employees to immediately collect their personal belongings & to make their own way home –
https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2020/3/spicerhaart-under-fire-for-inhumane-and-disgraceful-sackings
This decision was defended by Colchester MP Will Quince who is a major beneficiary of political donations from Paul Smith the CEO of SpicerHaart.

Management

Paul Smith is CEO and John Spence OBE is the Non-Executive Chairman. The company's headquarters and contact centre are in Colchester, Essex.

Estate agency brands

Spicerhaart currently trade under the following brands: