This year, Aston Chase is celebrating 40 years in business. It’s a remarkable length of time for any business to stay relevant, but especially for one such as ours, operating at the very top end of the highly challenging world of London’s luxury property market.
The key to our success has been striking that perfect balance between maintaining our identity as a trailblazing boutique agency, with an incredible team who make up the Aston Chase family, and a willingness to disrupt, grow and take risks.
Richard Bernstone, who I founded the firm with in 1985, and I are still the best of friends and kindred spirits. We took our first offices on a corner site in Marylebone, sensing the forthcoming regeneration, having the address formally changed to 40 Upper Montagu Street from 54 York Street because it sounded much swankier. The number 40 now has a particular serendipity as we celebrate our 40th anniversary!
We soon outgrew the office, moving to larger premises on Glentworth Street, just north of the Marylebone Road, as we’d become increasingly active in Regent’s Park, St. John’s Wood, Primrose Hill and surrounding areas. At this time, we were joined by our fellow director Michael Sulkin, and the business continued to enjoy exponential growth, resulting in a move in 1997 to our current premises on Park Road, which gave us not only streamlined space but also vital visibility.
We set ourselves apart from traditional estate agents by rejecting a high street presence or advertising properties in our windows. We called in a celebrated minimalist architect to design our office space, in which chameleon-like brokers had a laser-like focus and in-depth understanding of the very top end of central and north-west London’s property market. We gave them what we call a “license to roam” – Richard and I understood early on that the market is fluid, and that it’s the perfect property that pulls in a buyer, not necessarily the specific location.
Staying at the top requires dedication and a lot of hard work
Cut to today, and whatever we’re doing is clearly working. LonRes data reveals that between March 2022 and February 2025, Aston Chase had a 29 per cent share of the St. John’s Wood house market, with 177 deals over the period, worth a total of £326m! While St. John’s Wood may be our core market, we could just as easily report such strong figures in Marylebone, Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill, Belsize Park, Hampstead and Hampstead Garden Suburb.
It’s one thing getting to the top, but staying there requires dedication and a lot of hard work. You’re only as good as your next deal, and the pressure is immense as clients at this end of the market are understandably demanding. Many are household names, at the top of their game, and may have fearsome reputations in their own worlds of commerce, sport, the arts or politics. But their homes are their soft spots, and their emotional attachments to them can make it hard to be decisive, which is where Aston Chase comes in. Despite our innovations, we have never lost sight of what we exist for, which is to achieve the best possible financial outcomes for our clients, with optimum discretion and a minimum of fuss.
