ALBERT WAS NO APRIL FOOL

When Albert Hipkiss opened a small Hagley Road estate agents on April Fool’s Day 1929

little did he know it would still be going strong 78 plus years on.

And it’s no joke that it has now grown into a hugely successful family business with offices in Stourbridge and Hagley.
These days Albert’s son John and grandson, Andrew, are keeping up tradition at Walton and Hipkiss, although things have certainly changed since Albert’s day. John remembers first starting out at this father’s business in the 1960’s when he was collecting weekly rent of around 50p a week.

He said: “It has changed quite drastically over the years, the house prices and rent in particular are very different now.

“There are also a lot more estate agents around, when my father started there were only a handful but at the last count I think there were 15 estate agents now in Stourbridge.
“As a family business you can only survive with the back-up of good staff.

“Our employees past and present, have been very loyal, we wouldn’t have become such a thriving firm without them.”

When Walton and Hipkiss first arrived in the town in 1929 at Hagley Road, where it still lies today, the company was quick to make a name for itself landing some lucrative sales.

Among the company’s more interesting customers was the late Squire Brooks, an anvil maker from Lye.

It took Walton and Hipkiss three days to auction everything from his impressive home opposite the Foley College.

Of course it was not long before the company was looking to expand, but the first move into Lye met a sudden end when a German bomber destroyed the High Street office during the war years.

It was decided not to rebuild and the company later opened a new office in Worcester Road Hagley instead.

A string of well known estate agents have also sprung from Walton and Hipkiss, Ian Perks, Stewart Allcock, and Jeffrey Gregson, chartered surveyor, spent their formative years there before moving out on their own.

In fact Ian has a particularly haunting memory of his time at Walton and Hipkiss in Hagley Road. Rumour has it the office is still home to the ghost of Albert’s mother who used to live upstairs at the office.

As the story goes, Ian was returning to the office one night when he saw Gertrude walk through the wall and down a passage. Now three generations on Walton and Hipkiss has moved on leaps and bounds, changing with the computer age thanks to Andrew Hipkiss. Although the company continues to retain its traditional family background still providing personal service.