Jamie Curtis began his Estate Agency career way back in 1992 as Liam Gallagher and Daman Albarn were metaphorically arm wrestling in the charts. Since then he has been responsible for the sale of thousands of properties locally. He quickly became Branch Manager before working the next 20 or so years for two of Cambridge’s leading agents. He felt ready to strike out and do things his way in 2015 and opened the doors of Cooke Curtis & Co. It's fair to say he hasn't looked back recently leading his team to become the UK's leading estate agent.
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Ian is one of Cambridge's most experienced local estate agents. He was born and raised here and started working in agency in the mid-90s on Regent Street. He opened his own firm in the early 2000s, eventually selling his share in the mid-2010s and then pursuing a career in land acquisition and new homes. But, though we occasionally try to deny it, estate agents are estate agents and Ian is now back doing what he's best at with CC&C. Ian lives in Over with his young family and spends his spare time hacking golf balls out of the rough.
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Julia first started in estate agency in 1988 and for the last 15 years has gained experience at some of the leading agents in the city. She's therefore enormously experienced in these villages having dealt with many hundreds of sales in this area over the years.
Julia has come to work with us as she shares our view that the best estate agents are independent, local companies employing long-experienced, local people who want to do the job properly to build a long-term reputation.
Julia grew up in Sawston and lived there until a few years ago when, after her children finally left home, she moved to a thatched cottage in Weston Colville that she describes as a 'long-term project'. She now whiles away the evenings in front of the fire with Mr Bailey and spends the weekends marching round the local bridleways with their two faithful hounds.
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Lesley has helped lead CC&C since the very first day the doors opened. In fact, since before that, right from when we were secretly decorating the new office in the evenings while still holding down our day jobs. She's made a habit of starting-up start-ups, having previously been part of the inaugural teams at Direct Line Life Insurance and Huntress Recruitment.
Lesley's family are from Spain but she grew up in south London. She moved to Cambridge for the love of a man and stayed for the love of our great city (plus partly that man) and now lives a few miles south of town with him and their cosy little mixed human/dog family. In gentle defiance of her Iberian heritage she lists her likes as 'dancing in muddy fields', 'going on rainy dog walks' and 'gardening', but also enjoys the very Spanish past-times of pottery, painting and loud chatting with friends over wine. Lovely.
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Mark is an elder statesman of the Cambridge estate agency community. Though the secret rituals of estate agency are closely guarded it is rumoured that at their induction to the order newly qualified estate agents must wash his feet with their hair.
He grew up not far north of Cambridge, where he dreamed of becoming an estate agent. He went to school dressed as an estate agent, he is married to an estate agent and the only reason his son isn't an estate agent is that this might breach child labour laws. When supplying notes for this bio Mark left the 'Hopes and dreams' section blank. Presumably because he's already acheived them. Mark is an accomplished all round sportsman. Shining as a tricky, energetic midfield terrier in the winter and able to deftly wield bat and sling ball through the summer months. Superstar actor Margot Robbie once met Mark while he was on an Australian cricket tour.
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Dominic joined us in 2018, leaving behind a position in estate agency down in Canterbury, close to where he grew up. We'd like to say it was CC&C's enviable national reputation that brought him to Cambridge, but it was something altogether more romantic than that. He's not new to the area though, having lived in Cambridge for 4 years during his degree. Dominic has recently bought his first house in Cottenham with his girlfriend Katie and is spending most of his spare time deciding which colour tones compliment the 46 inch flat screen tv. Dom owns a 1966 Sunbeam Alpine, just like the one that races the yellow Porsche in Commando, but he is too young to know what Commando is.
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Jenny joined Cooke Curtis & Co having previously worked for two other Cambridge estate agents and has more than 15 years' experience in selling properties in town and the surrounding villages. She grew up in Swaffham Bulbeck and now lives in Burwell. Sadly her childhood dream of marrying one of the members of Westlife never came true. Instead, as if to show her particular commitment to the industry, she is married to another Cambridge estate agent and they have recently purchased their new home together. As well as that band Jenny also lists her likes as Strictly Come Dancing and Norfolk.
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Kirsty grew up in the centre of Cambridge and, though her youthful appearance may cause you not to believe it, has worked in property lettings in the city for more than 15 years. Her knowledge and experience means she is able to support the team and our growing lettings portfolio in all areas. She is always the first to offer to lend a hand and a whirlwind around the office.
When we let her have time off Kirsty and her young daughter are often found at her dance shows and are self-confessed shopping enthusiasts and bargain hunters. She's also a serial house renovator giving her first-hand understanding of the varied challenges of the property game and excellent mood-board skills.
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Lauren’s cat has more Instagram followers than Cooke Curtis & Co. but we bet we’re better at opening tricky doors where, for example, you have to lift up a bit as you turn the key. No cat can do that. I think we all know who the real winners are. The pair of them live with a human male in the windy wilds of Exning. Lauren has amongst the fastest hands in the office, so if you call the sales office you’re probably most likely to speak to her first.
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We’ve known Remi the estate agent since forever, 15 years or more, and were super keen to get her to work with us from day 1, but she was too successful, flying high with her own estate agency branch in Saffron Walden. But good things come to those who nag and when she decided to step back from the rat race and move to rural Devon with her husband, baby and retired greyhound we were delighted to be able to welcome her experience to Cooke Curtis and Co. You won’t see Remi on any viewings of course, but thanks to the modern wonder of the world-wide-internet she’s very much a member of our team. We have a printout of her face on the office wall too.
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Sarah grew up round here and has (as of 2023) been an estate agent for 17 years, working her way up from the bottom to become a local branch manager before joining CC&C. Her first job wasn't in property, but as a server in a Little Chef (if you're too young, they were a ubiquitous 1980s/90s chain of restaurants, think Ivy Brasserie just a bit more self-aware and without table cloths) and she also had a brief stint as a mortgage advisor.
Sarah likes mainly cosy things; autumn, strictly come dancing, a Chinese takeaway, family, coffee, friendship, her dog, her children, but strangely also enjoys running, a splendid life-giving spiritual pursuit, no doubt, but not exactly high on the cosy scale. She was born and still lives just north of Cambridge, but deep down probably understands that south of the river has always been and always will be just that little bit cooler.
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Sam Cooke became an Agent in 1999 and has always called Cambridge home. His family can trace its Cambridge roots back over 500 years and he counts among his close relations a former Director of Cambridge United and former Mayor of the City. He grew up in Fulbourn and Stapleford and now lives in Trumpington in a half-built house that his wife, 3 children and dog can just about tolerate.
When not selling houses he runs steadily, polishes old cars and bicycles and thinks all art forms have been on the decline since 1998.
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Elina was born in Latvia and moved to Newmarket when she was 8. Having spent most of her life in England she definitely feels at home here, but likes to travel to see family and visit sunny destinations as often as she can. Starting off in Childcare, her ambitions of one day designing and building her own property sparked her career change to lettings.
Elina is the team Sunshine, always full of positivity even first thing in the morning. She is also studying a Psychology Degree in her spare time, often posing deep thought-provoking questions like…”if you were a cocktail, what cocktail would you be?”. When Elina is not in deep thought, making herself laugh or putting together one of her famous office birthday hampers, you can find her getting her lashes done or cooking up a feast in her air fryer just north of City where she lives with her boyfriend and Princess the Kitten.
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Alithia started her career in Lettings in 2020 gaining valuable experience of the Newmarket and North Cambridgeshire markets. She prides herself on being very driven to always offer an exceptional service and quickly gained her Propertymark MARLA Level 3 qualification. A superb achievement for her age and time in the industry.
Alithia loves her food! With a Greek Cypriot heritage, food is simply a way of Life! Kleftiko …lamb, slow cooked, for hours… is a firm favourite. In her spare time, she also loves watching box sets and films so is always on the lookout for recommendations. She could not however be called a couch potato as she is an avid keep fit enthusiast, attending Park Runs weekly, the gym regularly and our second Netball player in the office, playing both competitively and socially.
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Billie grew up in central Cambridge and still lives here now. She joined CC&C in 2023 from another local agent and quite probably thinks it's the best thing she's ever done. Prior to her estate agency career she worked in retail management for the wonderful Arthur Rank Hospice charity. Billie loves scrapbooking, coffee and long autumnal walks to pub gardens with her two dogs.
She identifies as 'not a morning person' and says she feels guilty about liking reality TV. Clearly the real guilt lies with those who make it, but perhaps if fewer people watched it then it wouldn't get made. Some
guilt is due.
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Like a number of our staff Mitchell grew up south of Cambridge. Quite far south, actually. Beyond Sawston, beyond Hinxton, beyond... Botswana... South Africa, in fact. He worked as an estate agent there for a number of years, but the bright lights, sandy beaches and glamour of sun-drenched Cape Town couldn't hold his attention for long, once he heard about Cambridge, with its proud traditions of below average sporting achievements, moribund night life and under-two-hour's-drive closeness to Great Yarmouth pleasure beach, he couldn't wait to get here.
Mitchell is a creative type, holding a diploma in animation and having worked as a professional property photographer in the past. He's a very happily married man and a true football fan, standing steadfast in his following of Manchester's second club despite their seemingly terminal decline.
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Jessica has been an estate agent since 2009, starting straight out of university. She's lived round here since she was 8 moving over with her family all the way from Texas, where the oil, cows with long horns and chainsaw massacre come from.
According to the 'Who sang Cruel Summer?' test she qualifies as an official 'Young Person', jumping up and down, clapping and squealing 'Taylor Swift! I'm such a Swiftie!' and then looking confused when her elders say something about bananas. She's a fearsome board game player, aggressively adopting the 'it's not the taking part that counts, it's the winning' mantra and has a largely human family plus a CAVAPOO! well known to be the best and most lovely of all the fluffy doggo breeds. Like Michael Douglas her pet peeves include hot weather, being stuck in traffic and being stuck in traffic in hot weather.
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Millie loves ABBA. She is, of course, correct to do so. The CC&C management does not know how she feels about Mamma Mia! but hopes that, despite her young years, she recognises that it is weedy, bad-karaoke nonsense that reduces once-in-a-generation songwriting greatness to infantile novelty guff. Anyway...
She grew up locally and first started working in estate agency at 19 years old. Her career has carried her carefully from the mean streets of Sawston, into the very heart of the city and now out to the glorious southern suburbs of Trumpington, collecting the experience of hundreds of disparate transactions along the way and winning an award for her glowing reviews. Millie is an experienced traveller, over the years taking full advantage of the perks of her mum's job as cabin crew. But she always comes back - she knows the world is a big and wonderful place, but that nowhere has better charity shopping than Sawston High Street.
