Marking 50 years, Sherry FitzGerald Royal looks to the future

Daughter Celene Heffernan carrying on tradition of estate agency founder, Aidan

Seven years after first establishing in Trim, the then Royal Auctioneers acquired a property of its own, Steeple Buildings on High Street, where it currently operates as Sherry FitzGerald Royal.

It is 50 years since Aidan Heffernan first opened for business in a premises on Loman Street, before moving around the corner to High Street, and the auctioneering firm has seen massive change and growth in the town and surrounds over that half century. The Wicklow native had studied auctioneering in the College of Commerce in Rathmines, and worked in a Dublin-based agency before identifying an opening in the local market, where he originally started in the furniture and clearance auction business. These were very popular sales at the time, with Aidan often travelling to Ayr and Glasgow in Scotland to bring home consignments of furniture and chattels to auction in local halls like Ballivor, Kilskyre, the CYMS Hall in Navan, and in Naas and Drogheda.

Aidan has always had a good team working with him, and in those early days Anne Kane was company secretary, with Aine McKeon as receptionist. In 1973, co-director Gerard Farrelly of Oldcastle joined, and later Maurice Harlin of Kilmessan became part of the team, with both subsequently going on to form their own businesses after the professional training they received from Aidan.

As the property market got busier, the company concentrated more on it, and by the time of the move to High Street, they had sold major licensed premises, houses and farms across Meath, North Dublin and Cavan.

Among those properties Aidan recalls selling were the Geneville Hotel, better known as Fay’s Hotel, for Paddy and Peggy Fay, as well as the Royal Cinema (currently Trim Hardware), which sold for €13,000 at one stage.

When Royal Auctioneers moved to ‘Steeple Buildings’ on High Street, named after the imposing Yellow Steeple monument, they refurbished the office and salesrooms headquarters to include a fine arts products showrooms, and ahead of their time in the late 1970s, even had a special ‘cinema’ where customers could be shown properties for sale on film before going to view, if the property was a distance from Trim. They were the first auctioneering firm in Ireland to promote Irish properties in the UK – Leeds, Birmingham and London being the principle locations travelled to.

This quality and efficiency of before and after sales service, combined with their landmark headquarters in the heritage town, marked them out as an auctioneering firm going places, and still endures half a century later.

Trim was beginning to expand at the time, with estates like Avondale being built as the first private housing developments, and Royal Auctioneers sold the second phase of that development, later selling in Eldergrove, Castleabbey and many other estates in Trim, Athboy, Navan and Swords.

Of course, the property market and prices was much different then than now, with a standard three-bedroom semi-detached home selling for €3,500 to €4,000 in the early to mid-1970s.

A gamechanger for the town of Trim was the decision by the Office of Public Works to locate its Boyne Drainage Project Headquarters in Trim, says Aidan, paying tribute to the local Chamber of Commerce members who bought a site and convinced the OPW to come to Trim. Aidan himself was later to join the Chamber and help further the town’s interests, as well as helping many local voluntary organisations through conducting and helping with fundraising auctions.

The company continued to grow over the decades and at the turn of the century and millennium, 1999, joined up with the Sherry FitzGerald franchise, becoming part of the country’s leading estate agency, winning many awards along the way. The most recent award was won earlier this year by Aidan’s daughter Celene, The Michael O’Leary Award, which recognizes a consummate professional, who believes in Customer Excellence, is willing to help others, is a leader who values their staff and has proved themself to be a wonderful ambassador for the profession. Celene has been at Aidan’s side for 30 years, has learned a lot from him and is well prepared to continue on the business into the future.

The last 50 years have seen peaks and troughs, including some major recessions, and today Sherry FitzGerald Royal employs a team of 10, described as "first class people" by Aidan Heffernan, who says that it wouldn’t be possible to have survived without these excellent colleagues whom he is lucky to have working with him. Aidan, Celene and their team are very grateful to all those clients who have trusted them, sometimes repeatedly, to take care of their property needs.

Nobody can predict the future, as we have learned over the past year and a half, but one thing is certain, that the Sherry FitzGerald Royal estate agency in Trim’s Steeple Buildings will stand tall for many years to come, offering an expertise and professional service to clients and customers, combined with the personal touch of the team there, built up over half a century of serving the Royal County and beyond.