As Hindwoods marks 140 years in business, we celebrate some of the careers that have helped make the company a success

Posted on 3 March 2026

FEW people know the properties of South London better than Richard Gibbons. For more than 50 years he has been managing and advising clients on residential property across South London. For 21 of those years, he has been a director at Hindwoods, a position he resigned at the end of 2025, due to his pending retirement plans. He remains a consultant in the residential team, looking after the portfolio of clients. 

It’s an extraordinary career, that has witnessed huge changes in South London property and beyond. Large areas have been redeveloped or gentrified, prices have risen dramatically (in the mid-1970s the average London house price was around £11,500) and transport links have improved, bringing with them new workers, renters and owners. During that period, Richard has built and maintained client relationships that have straddled generations. 

His passion for property started when he was still at school. ‘My Dad was involved in property and when I was 13 or 14 years old, I would spend Saturdays on building sites,’ he says. Although his father was an accountant he worked for a lady with a large property portfolio in South London and ran it with her. 

‘When I left school, I wasn’t interested in going to university – I went to the Brixton School of Building and then moved into structural engineering.’ His first role was as a building surveyor and this gave Richard an understanding of property from the ground up. He quickly moved to work with a firm of independent property experts in Camberwell and spent the next 35 years with them. 

Moving companies 

If that company, Andrew & Robertson’s, hadn’t been about to sell its property management business he might not have moved companies. But rumours were swirling that change was in the air and Richard decided to explore his options. An advert for a role in Hindwoods’ Dulwich office caught his attention. Hindwoods was – unknown to him at the time – looking at buying Andrew & Robertson’s property management business, and they already knew about Richard and his clients, and they were impressed.

Richard joined Hindwoods in 2004 and the deal to buy the property management business was completed in 2005. ‘All my clients from 30 years were still clients, and they came with me when I moved,’ he says. It is the sort of relationship building that is rare in 2026. But it has been the hallmark of Richard’s career and has extended to colleagues as well as clients. ‘My secretary, at Andrews & Robertson resigned before I left,’ he says. ‘She came to work for me again at Hindwoods and worked with me until she died some 30 years later. I could run the whole residential portfolio on my own because she knew, before me, what I wanted to do.’

An approach that’s stood the test of time

Whilst much in the broader economy has impacted property, and as technology has speeded up processes and removed some of the personal interactions, an attention to detail and an attention to clients have been a hallmark of Richard’s career.

Almost every day of Richard’s working life has started in the office between 7.30am and 8am. Days that were once full of phone books and fax machines were gradually replaced with mobile phones and emails. ‘Over the years you get used to the changes. Today there is so much change with legislation – and life is more difficult in that respect. But I still enjoy it!’ he says. 

‘I have around 45 years’ of client relationships. For some clients, I am managing property for their children now.’

There are still many property portfolios that ensure people get an income from property – even when houses have been sold off as new generations pay inheritance tax and other charges. It is these property empires – accidental, inherited or intentional – that Richard has helped. He is clear that the role of the property expert for those people with property portfolios is not merely transactional. ‘I like improving properties and getting better rents,’ explains Richard. ‘It is pleasing to do it. It is advising clients that – for example – if they spend £X they will get £Y back. I have a good chat with the client and make recommendations.’

Looking back – and looking forwards

Richard’s career is a good marker for how much the property market and Hindwoods as a business have evolved. Whilst property might have seemed like a simpler business in the 1970s, the fundamentals haven’t really changed. People still want a place that feels like home, whether they are buying their first house at auction – as Richard did – or investing in something they have built over the years.

For Kevin Bright, Director at Hindwoods, Richard’s work and work ethic are exactly what brings clients back to Hindwoods. ‘They really don’t make them like Richard anymore,’ he says. ‘But, as we mark 140 years in business, we know that our longevity comes in part from that personal touch that he does so well. It’s what has kept Hindwoods at the heart of South London property for generations – and what continues to make it such a special place to build a career.’