It seems to be the season for milestones. No sooner has Mark FitzGerald marked 40 years in the estate agency business, when news of another auspicious occasion reaches our desks. Sandymount stalwart Bennetts Auctioneers took to the Sandymount Hotel last week to celebrate 20 years on the Green – that's Sandymount Green of course.

The Bennett’s team welcomed 150 guests and clients for an evening of celebration and reminiscence about the business which started long before its current Sandymount incarnation. At the helm was Nigel Bennett who in 1969 followed his father and grandfather before him into the family practice which was trading at the time from South Frederick Street in the city centre.

Nigel recalled how the firm at one stage employed George Bernard Shaw as a clerk, and conducted its first auction in 1948 in the old Jury's Hotel on Dublin's College Green. Also present on the night was the new managing director, Marc McGrath, who joins Bennetts from his previous role with Quinn Agnew.