Matt joined the team in August 2023. He studied Real Estate at Nottingham Trent University with the addition of a 12-month placement at Tesco Property as part of his sandwich course. He enjoys fitness, boxing training and travelling. Matt has joined our graduate rotation programme, his first rotation was with the Retail & Leisure team based in Central London office. In March 2024 he moved across to the Professional & Valuation team and is currently in the Office & Industrial Agency team for 6 months. In October 2025 he received the great news that he had qualified and is now a Surveyor in the Retail, Restaurant & Leisure team.

Benjie is an Associate at Brasier Freeth and a key member of the Retail, Restaurant & Leisure team. Having progressed through the company graduate programme in 2016, he gained broad experience across the Office & Industrial, Valuation and Retail before qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor in 2019.

Benjie’s remit is broad, he works across our commercial agency, lease advisory and valuation, with a specialist focus on the retail, restaurant and leisure sectors nationwide. Working primarily with occupier clients, he has a strong understanding of their operational and commercial requirements, enabling him to deliver strategic, tailored advice that supports their long-term business objectives

He works with a range of national occupiers, providing both commercial agency and lease advisory services. His major clients include The Foschini Group (TFG) – overseeing acquisitions and lease advisory for Hobbs, Phase Eight and Whistles across their UK portfolio, – TK Maxx, supporting their London expansion programme, – and EE on lease advisory matters.

Alongside this, he has a proven track record in supporting emerging brands, most notably helping Brim Burgers grow from a single restaurant to 12 sites nationwide. He also has extensive experience working with leisure operators and currently assists overseeing the entire national property portfolio for Pirate Studios, delivering both acquisition and professional advice.

Based in South West London, Benjie is a keen cyclist and can often be found tackling routes through the Surrey Hills and beyond. He also enjoys walking the pooch, especially when there’s a good pub along the way, and is always on the lookout for his next adventurous holiday.

Vicki joined the bf team in 1998 to provide administrative support. Having worked across the Business, she has extensive knowledge of all Departments. Now working for the Retail + Leisure Agency Team, Vicki provides invaluable support ensuring the smooth running of all the administration for her team.

Russell joined Brasier Freeth in 1995, bringing with him a decade of experience from a leading retail property specialist in London. He became a Partner in 2000 and has since built an extensive portfolio of national and international retail clients, including Foot Locker, Guess, and the TFG brands (Hobbs, Phase Eight, Whistles, and White Stuff).

Specialising in acquisitions and disposals of retail properties across the UK, Russell plays a key role in shaping his clients’ long-term growth strategies. In addition to his UK focus, he has increasingly supported clients with expansion into international markets, including the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Sweden.

With over four decades in retail property, Russell combines deep market knowledge with a strategic approach, helping his clients achieve sustained success in an evolving retail landscape.

Ollie joined bf in 2019 as a graduate having completed a degree in Business Management at Surrey University. When Ollie first joined the practise his time was split between our Hemel Hempstead and Welwyn Garden City office assisting the Retail, Office & Industrial agency teams.

Ollie is currently working with the Retail & Leisure team based in our Kings Langley office. He was promoted to Senior Surveyor in April 2025.

Professional experience, skills and areas of expertise

Neil started his retail agency career at a busy North West London practice over 25 years’ ago, before joining Brasier Freeth in 2004 and then becoming a Principal of the business in 2015. Neil specialises in Retail and Leisure Agency, including investment and development.

With a South-East regional focus, Neil deals with Landlord agency leasing instructions, as well as the disposal of tenanted Freehold investments. Also trusted by developers, Neil has taken a large number of projects from site acquisition, advising on design phase proposals, specifications and tenant mix, through to pre-leasing and eventual sale of end investments.

Neil has acted as a disposal and acquisition agent for Tesco for approximately 20 years, having acquired in excess of 150 sites on Tesco’s behalf, predominately for their Express format and also including larger stores, generally within London and the Home Counties. Neil’s Development experience has proved invaluable to Tesco where site acquisitions often involve construction works and therefore expertise to agree planning strategy, handover specification and legal conditions, liaising directly with Tesco’s project team to deliver the best outcome for the client.

Neil has also been retained as an Outsourced Development Manager for Travelodge Hotels since 2007, with a brief to assist their expansion and work with third party Developers to identify and acquire sites for the construction of new hotels in London. Neil has since brokered the acquisition of a number of high profile sites on Travelodge’s behalf, with openings including keys sites at Brent Cross, Wembley and Harrow.

Outside of work

Neil lives in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire and enjoys going to his local gym, watching his daughter play football, overseas family road trips and the occasional drink with friends.

Mark joined Brasier Freeth at the start of his career in 2002 and became a Partner in 2015. Mark acts for multiple retailers and leisure operators providing strategic portfolio advice on disposal and acquisition programmes throughout the UK.

Mark is also experienced in acting for both institutional and private investors on High Street blocks across Southern England, providing both agency and investment advice.

Clients and professional accomplishments

Mark currently advises numerous national retailers on a sole agency basis including, Ryman, Choice Discounts, Costa, Tossed, and various independent overseas brands.

As well as his retailer mandate Mark also advises leisure and restaurant operators Nationwide. With the evolution of retail experiences, leisure has increasingly become an essential part of any shopping destination, an example of which is the advisory services he provides to one of the leading UK indoor golf operators, Treetop Adventure Golf on their expansion Nationwide.

Mark is currently involved in a special project for the US restaurant chain Wingstop. He met the owners in late 2019, at the time they had 2 restaurants. Due to his dedication, Mark quickly became the sole agent for Wingstop across the UK. As of February 2025, Wingstop trades from 58 sites in the UK, with annual sales above £150m. Mark has agreed another 25 sites to open this year (2025) and now starting to build the pipeline for 2026. In early 2024 Wingstop was voted one of Europe’s fastest-growing businesses and highest-placed restaurant operators by the Financial Times List. In December 2024, the original founders sold the UK business to US private equity firm Sixth Street for in excess of £400m

Outside of work

Mark lives in North London and has five children ranging from 9 to 19 which keeps him VERY busy! Mark enjoys travelling (without his kids!) and enjoying quality time with his family.

Mark is a Consultant to bf and has been working with our Retail + Leisure Agency team since 2009. Prior to consulting for bf, Mark held several high profile positions in London based retail and property investment firms. Mark has over 25 years’ industry experience, specialising in lease advisory work.

His diligent approach has earnt him an extensive portfolio of clients that he has successfully assisted, making savings for their businesses across the UK.

Damian was formerly Head of Retail at JLL, he joined the bf team in 2017 as a Partner in our Retail + Leisure team. He is a Chartered Surveyor and has worked for some of the industry’s leading firms, bringing with him 30 years’ experience.

He has been involved in market leading instructions during the course of his career and at bf, has been responsible for developing our shopping centre leasing business.

His worth ethic, industry knowledge and extensive contacts has allowed Damian to expand our platform of both landlord and occupier clients, providing them with exemplary service to achieve the best results.

Anthony joined the bf team in the early stages of his career in 1998 and now heads up our
Retail & Leisure Agency. Over the years, Anthony has developed an established client base of multi-national Retailers, Landlords and Developers who all benefit from his considerable market knowledge and diligent approach to their property matters. His clients include  Costa Coffee, Warren James Jewellers, Pret a Manger and Bird & Blend.

He has been key in developing retailer expansion strategies, some operators have grown from an embryonic stage emerging to become well known major brands in the UK. He also advises various landlords from private pro co’s to funds to help with their assets, actively working on the leasing of various shopping centres in the southeast.

Anthony lives in Hertfordshire with his family, including 2 daughters that share the same birthday but 3 years apart. A keen road cyclist but also enjoys running and swimming too and has taken part in quite a few triathlons, having completed an Ironman in 2021. Has recently taken up Padel tennis.

Ivan joined the Brasier Freeth retail team in 1995, having started his career at one of the oldest surveying firms in London. He has always worked solely in the retail sector and dealt with shop properties across the UK.  Over the past 37 years Ivan has established an excellent reputation for his lease advisory and retail agency work. His dedication to achieving the best results for his clients is renowned and has resulted in him securing a solid client list ranging from single store occupiers to multi-national retailers across the UK, they include TFG (Hobbs, Phase Eight and Whistles) Foot Locker, Eurochange, Holland & Barrett and Warren James.

By combining Lease Advisory with Agency work Ivan is able to provide additional knowledge to the advantage and benefit of his clients, particularly when negotiating terms on their behalf and when providing budget rents for future lease events.

Ivan often provides Expert Witness reports when required.

James is a Consultant of the firm based in our Welwyn Garden City Office.  Since qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor in 1982, James has dealt with a wide range of properties throughout the country.

After working within the Estates Departments of two national occupier companies, James moved to Private Practice based in the West End for Grimley JR Eve, now Avison Young.  James joined the firm in 1996 after sailing round the world and became a Principal in 2005.

These days, he specialises in the disposal and acquisition of Office & Industrial space and retail properties for owners and occupiers. James acts for a number of private property investors and oversees the firm’s instructions from Howden Insurance. In particular, he acts for Chilli Pilates where he has been involved in the expansion of the business from one studio to over 10 studios and who are looking for more premises.

Outside business, James is a keen sailor and enjoys playing bridge, Fives and golf.