Time was when it felt like the estate agency Foxtons owned London.
Its distinctive dark green and yellow Mini Coopers were an ever-present sight in the noughties, whizzing through Notting Hill, Clapham or Islington with customers in the passenger seat. The opening of a new branch, in “up and coming’ areas such as Brixton, was considered significant local news and a big signal of gentrification. Dinner party conversations could centre on whether it was worth paying the high commission fee or whether Foxtons’ aggressive sales tactics were bad form. No other agency seemed to divide the opinions of a room, or city, so strongly.
Then, a shift happened. The branded Mini Coopers started to disappear, the sale boards became less numerous. Disappointing profit and
