An estate agency that spent eleven years working entirely online has opened a shop on Upper Richmond Road where you can get a coffee and a property valuation at the same counter.
LMA Property, which has operated as an online-only agency since 2015, has moved into 4-5 Keswick Broadway – just past East Putney tube on Upper Richmond – calling it London’s first estate agency and café hybrid. It’s the latest sign of change on a road we reported on in May, filling back in with new arrivals as fast as older units are shuttering.
The shop is self-funded, with no outside investment, according to founder Leah Oaker. Coffee comes from Caravan: a flat white is £3.70, an iced latte £3.95, and there’s a coffee-and-pastry deal for £5. Behind the counter, a rotating “satellite desk” brings in different property specialists through the week, with financial advice on Mondays, block management on Tuesdays and mortgages on Wednesdays.
“After 10 years running LMA ‘online’ we are getting out front and centre in our community – in the traditional way, but with a modern twist,” Oaker said, announcing the move.
Before opening, LMA’s own marketing pitched a fully cross-trained team, with one recruitment post promising “no barista experience needed as full training will be provided” for anyone joining “this property family”. On a visit to the shop this month, the reality was a touch more conventional: the people making the coffee were, gratifyingly, coffee people, while the estate agent on duty stayed at the property desk. The staff were friendly, the coffee was good, and the pastry case carries its own small joke, with branded “FOR SALE” tags on the baked goods.
Whether the satellite-desk rota keeps running as advertised, and whether LMA takes the concept beyond Putney, remains to be seen. For now, it’s a genuinely new kind of shopfront on a road that’s had plenty of them lately, and if nothing else, it’s worth the £3.95 for a look.
