Trade in Dagenham

▶ How did the company start?

I worked for a firm of accountants who had an insurance agency and it wasn’t what they wanted to do anymore. They sold it to me and a partner who started it off and I went with him after six months. That was September 1979. He retired after six years and my wife and I decided to go it alone.

▶ What was it like?

It was a small high street broker based about 500 yards from West Ham’s football ground. It was mainly commercial clients, factories, builders, a lot of