A founding director of AG&G, James is one of the UK’s top agency negotiators in the pub sector and his honesty makes him popular among clients and even rival agencies. Indeed, there probably isn’t a significant pub deal in the capital that James hasn’t been involved in over the last 20 years. He is a formidable dealmaker, completing sales and acquisitions worth many hundreds of millions of pounds and working with a wide network of contacts across the industry. He is a Fellow of the Association of Valuers of Licensed Properties, a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and past chairman of the Restaurant Property Advisors Society. His experience and personality makes him a regular spokesperson on the sector across trade and national press. James is a dedicated Seagull – a supporter of Brighton and Hove Albion football club - and is encouraging his four children to follow his allegiance, despite their occasional protest.
Favourite drink/meal: You can’t beat a draught Guinness in Dublin! Difficult to beat steak- with a sweet potato
Favourite pub/restaurant: I have to tart myself about for ‘research purposes’. But office local ticks most boxes – the Nell Gwynn which we acquired for City Pub Co
Most satisfying deal: For individual customer satisfaction and thus personal pride it must be the Harp, WC2 freehold sale. The lovely lady who owned the pub was about to accept an unsolicited offer of £3.5m. I persuaded her to trust me and the eventual buyer ended up paying over double that amount!