Glen Cook set up Hamilton Brooks in Long Lane in 1994. But his involvement with the Barbican actually began in 1987, when he used to value flats for the City under the ‘right to buy’ legislation. Glen handles sales and lettings.

Glen secured the instruction to sell the 69 new Frobisher Crescent flats for the City and United House. The developers insisted on bringing in a bigger firm with lots of offices and a worldwide reach as well. I think the end result was that Glen sold 63, they sold about six. It’s local expertise which counts in the Barbican market.

My law firm, Barretts Solicitors, handled all the Frobisher Crescent sales, and we were jointly involved in hundreds of sales and purchases with Hamilton Brooks over the years. They always gave a fantastic service to their seller clients and would fight tooth and nail with us if we came up with any problems on behalf of a buyer.

Hamilton Brooks is one of the firms I recommend. The others are Nicola Lee, Frank Harris & Company and Scott City.