Jobs go as estate agency closes down

One of Norfolk's long-established estate agency firms, Tops Property Services which has offices in Dereham and Reepham, is to go into administration today, it was announced yesterday after more than 25 staff were made redundant on pay day and eight branches across the county closed.

One of Norfolk's long-established estate agency firms, Tops Property Services which had offices in Dereham and Reepham, has gone into administration after more than 25 staff were made redundant on pay day and eight branches across the county closed.

Staff were called to a crisis meeting last week at the head office in Cringleford, where director Roger Lake gave the news and advised them to go home.

The workers from the Tops offices in Dereham, Reepham and six branches in Norwich and its suburbs will have to make a redundancy claim for their wages along with other money owed.

Tops issued a statement saying: 'The business is another unfortunate casualty of the property slump which followed the credit crunch and much reduced sales levels precipitated by a clampdown on mortgage lending.'

Mr Lake added: 'This is a very sad day for the company and the staff who have given so much to help it prosper in past years.

This week it emerged that Mr Lake and fellow former Tops director Bryan Baxter are launching a new business selling houses under the ownership of property developer John Howard.

If you are an employee, vendor or buyer and need information, you can contact the administrators Begbies-Traynor on 01702 467255.