SPC stalwart decides to go it alone

Tony Bogan, the man who urged other solicitors to band together to form solicitors property centres, has finally set one up on his own.

Bogan, former operations director of the Solicitors Property Centre, has relaunched his London estate agency as Barber & Company Solicitors Property Centre.

It will offer estate agency, conveyancing and financial services. "Having dreamed up the SPC initiative two years ago, it's about time I did it myself," he says.

But Marsons senior partner, Brian Marson, attacked the move. "If the SPC's leading light is going off to do his own thing, it justifies fears that SPC is not going to get off the ground."

The SPC is nearly out of money, despite collecting fees of up to u750 from more than 700 firms in 1997. Since its inception, SPC has not launched a single property centre in England or Wales.