Meet the Team

James Court

Director

A Director of the company, in charge of Sales, James has been working in the local property market for nearly 30 years. Starting at Spencers, he then moved onto senior roles at Halifax Estate Agents and Your Move. He started Peter James Estates with Peter Woodthorpe in 2000 and they soon proved to be one of the City’s most innovative Agents. PJE merged with Readings Hope and Mann in January 2011. When he’s not in the city, he’s actually a bit of a country bumpkin, enjoying donning his wellies and yomping across the fields of South Leicestershire with his wife, Jane and their Dalmatian, Oscar.

Peter Woodthorpe

Director

Despite 30 years of selling, valuing and surveying property in Leicestershire, Peter says he is still learning. He started his career with Beardsley Theobolds, before joining Halifax Property Services, where he became Area Manager. He set up Peter James Estates with James Court, which merged with Readings Hope and Mann in 2011. When not at work, Peter enjoys cricket, walking, sailing and fishing. Indeed, if he were a “Grand Tour” presenter, we think he’d be James May!

Will Ravenhill

Director

Will is one of the firm’s Directors and started his career in Agency Sales with Spencers in 1987. He left to set up the Sales department at, what was then PG Reading, in 1997 and has been with the company ever since, helping it grow to its present size. Since his father, John’s retirement, Will has been responsible for looking after our busy Lettings Department. He attributes the growth of the business with his ever spreading grey hair and outside work loves running, cricket, rugby and spending time with his wife and 2 sons.

Nigel Carlisle

Director

Nigel is one of the Directors of Readings having previously been a Partner at Norman Hope and Mann and latterly Readings Hope and Mann. He heads up our Commercial and Professional Departments and has a technical knowledge of all things property related which is second to none. A daring and sporty individual, Nigel has travelled to all 4 corners of the globe. He’s been working here for so long though, that no matter how beautiful the vista that he has woken up to on his travels, he wants his ashes scattered on Granby Street when the time comes!

Sean Rushton

Director

“I’ve been valuing properties in Leicestershire for 10 years now and I still get the same excited feeling putting a property on to the market, as I did with my very first one!” says Sean. He is undoubtedly one of the City’s most experienced property valuers and is a great hit with both private and professional clients. When he’s not at work, he loves travelling, so that he can find people all over the world and tell them how great he is at his job!

Abby Hughson

Property Advisor

Abby recently joined the team at Readings having previously had a career in hospitality, where she learned her keen sense of excellent customer service. She has slotted into the team with ease and quickly builds rapport with clients. When not at work Abby spends her time wining and dining with her other half.

Trina O'Hara

Lettings Office Manager

Why do so many landlords and tenants love dealing with Trina? Because she gets the job done! After a career in Property Sales at Spencers Countrywide and Peter James Estates, Trina moved from our Sales department here at RPG to our Lettings Department and has been a great success. Trina manages to wind down from her high-pressure role at Readings by socialising, running, camping and attending the occasional Spa weekend!

Hassan Gaffar

Senior Commercial Surveyor

Hassan Gaffar is definitely the “Gaffer” when it comes to his knowledge of the Leicester commercial property market! Having looked after Leicester City Council’s commercial property portfolio for a number of years, he decided to take the plunge and join us to help grow our established (but relatively small) commercial department. We’re fast developing into a bigger player in the commercial property sector, thanks to Hassan and our busy marketing department, headed by Tiffany. Outside work Hassan likes watching his beloved Leicester City Football Club (Premier League Champions 2016, you know!) and spending time with his young family.

Sean Sexton

RICS Chartered Surveyor

We were really happy to welcome Sean to the Readings team in January 2016. He’s joined our increasingly busy professional department as a Surveyor and has a great set of skills which are really going to enhance the range of services we can offer. He’s got bags of experience valuing all sorts of residential property! Outside work he lives in Whetstone and is kept busy by his 6-month-old son and 2 dogs. He supports Liverpool FC and yearns to be “The Boss.” Not the boss of Readings, but ageing rocker Bruce Springsteen!

Sue Davis

Lettings Account Manager

Sue is employed by Readings as Lettings Account Manager and looks after some of the most established and highly respected landlords in Leicester. Her cool, calm and friendly demeanour is always appreciated both by her clients and fellow staff members! Out of work Sue enjoys living near the beautiful Charnwood countryside and bakes a fabulous array of cakes that would give Mary Berry a run for her money! Talking of money, Sue’s always happy to receive e-mail orders for her cakes, if you’re looking for something indulgent for a special occasion!

Laura Adamson

Lettings Account Manager

What can we say about Laura? She joined our busy Lettings department as part of our accounts management team and made an immediate impact! To say she “hit the ground running” is an understatement. Her years of both private practice and local authority experience of the rental market are proving invaluable in her busy role here. She gets the job done quickly and efficiently and is a real hit with landlords and tenants. Outside work Laura is a busy mum, with a young family, who she loves spending time with. Outside work Laura enjoys going to the gym and socialising (when she can get a baby sitter!)

Sarah Law

Lettings Negotiator

Like a breath of fresh air, Sarah (BA HONS-she’s got the student debt to prove it!) has joined our Lettings team and made an immediate positive impact. Landlords and tenants love her because she’s friendly and knowledgeable, but also SERIOUSLY organised (you have to be in Lettings!) Since joining us she’s moved dozens of happy tenants into properties, which therefore means we have happy landlords! Outside work, Sarah loves to travel. She’s been to the top of the CN Tower in Toronto, AND walked around the outside of it! It’s 553m tall you know!

Louise Dexter

Administrator

Louise heads up our busy Administration department, and during her time here has created a strong rapport with our Professional Clients. She’s been with us for nearly 10 years and was with Spencers Estate Agents prior to that. Louise was PA to David Johnson, before his retirement from Readings in December 2013. Working closely with David she has built up a great understanding of various Commercial and Professional Services processes. One of the nicest, able and hard working people you could hope to find. Outside work she adores spending time with her family, who all live locally.

Elizabeth Lewin

RICS Chartered Surveyor

Lizzie joined our ever growing team of Chartered Surveyors from Mather Jamie in Loughborough, where she undertook rural property management, traditional estate management, valuation and planning and development work. She specialises in historic property management, maintenance/restoration and planning. She’s super qualified and super bubbly-definitely a “glass half full” type of person!

Lizzie moved to Readings as she’s keen to broaden her professional scope and felt that the enormous depth of professional services that we offer will help her do this. She also wanted to work here in the city centre. Which should also help with her secret passion for looking for bargains in charity shops!

Away from work, Lizzie has a busy young family, which takes up a lot of her free time. She loves to go riding, when she can find time in her busy schedule!

Steve Mounfield

Accountant

Formerly Company Secretary at British Shoe, Steve has been with the company for 12 years and heads our Finance Department. Be nice to him if you meet him, as he pays the bills! Outside work Steve’s passions are golf and rugby and, it seems continually, repairing his computer. He enjoys the first two more than the third.

Julie Johns

Accountant

Julie is a highly respected local accountant, who, as well as working freelance for RPG, has a number of private clients. She works with Steve Mounfield in our busy Finance Department and helps ensure that all our bank accounts reconcile to the satisfaction of the RICS. Not a job for the faint-hearted!

James Beardsworth

RICS Surveyor

James Beardsworth BSc Hons Dip Surv & Val AssocRICS (affectionally known as “Beardy” within the office), is an integral part of our survey and professional department. He’s always in demand as a “go to” surveyor by our clients. Do you know why? Because he works hard and has an uncanny knack of knowing how to talk to people in a way that really resonates with them. He started his professional career in Business Transfer Agency (the “Wild West of Agency”-his words not ours!), before moving to Andrew Granger and Co, where he spent 4 years valuing a wide range of properties from 1 bedroom flats to million pound mansions. Their loss was our gain and since joining us in late 2019, James has fitted in so well to our multi-disciplined business model. When he’s not working his socks off here, “Beardy” likes to travel (there’s an enviable number of far flung and exotic places on his “been there” list!). He also likes socialising with friends, stand up comedy and keeping up to date with news and current affairs.

Helena Johnson

Administrator

Helena is part of the glue that holds our busy departments together. The “glue” we refer to is our excellent secretarial and admin department. Having worked for Salusbury Harding and Barlow solicitors’ here in the city centre, she’s got a great knowledge of how a busy practice works. Her contribution to making sure clients get their paperwork on time is immense-multi tasking a particular skill! Outside work Helena loves travelling (sunny climes a favourite) and spending time with her family.

John Coxall

Accompanied Viewer

John (or “JC” as he’s affectionately known!), has worked in Agency in Leicester for many years. He was a driving force behind Gregory Residential in the 1990’s, before joining Harrison Murray. He joined Readings Hope and Mann as Lettings Manager in 2006 until semi-retirement beckoned in 2010. He missed the property market so much that he came back to work for us as our Accompanied Viewer in 2011. He has a thorough knowledge of the property market and is a valuable member of the team.