About

Rob has over 38 years experience within the retail property market having started out in 1986 as a surveyor at Harrison & Nock where he soon became an associate partner.

In October 1989 Rob established Alston Nock with Stephen Nock. Alston Nock was recognised as one of the leading Midlands retail property agencies who specialised in retail and investment agency.

In April 2007 Alston Nock was bought by Cushman & Wakefield who were looking to open a Birmingham office. Rob became a partner at Cushman & Wakefield where he was head of the Midlands Retail Agency team continuing to deal with all aspects of retail agency and at one point was involved in 24 shopping centre leasing instructions.

Rob then launched Rob Alston Retail at the beginning of 2015 with a view to establishing a practise that would offer quality independent advice to landlords, occupiers and investors on all aspects of retail property throughout the UK.

Since establishing Rob Alston Retail, Rob has retained a role as leasing agent and advisor on Mell Square Shopping Centre in Solihull ( first instructed in 1990) and is also instructed on numerous other high street lettings/disposals for various landlords and tenants.

Rob now works much more closely with various occupiers in assisting them to acquire new retail units. This involves identifying the site, negotiating the best terms available and liaising with solicitors throughout the transaction until completion.

Rob is also retained by Castle Fine Art to deal with all of their property matters which involves acquisitions, disposals, rent reviews & lease renewals on all of their 40 retail outlets throughout the UK.

Card Factory, the 1,100 branch major PLC card retailer, use Rob as their preferred property agent in the Midlands/East Anglia where Rob assists them in dealing with the majority of their acquisitions together with advising them on various rent reviews/lease renewal/regear situations.

Rob was the co-owner of Hands on Property Management, a retail property investment company established in 1990, which bought and sold approximately 30 retail property investments until the company ceased trading in 2021. This gave Rob a unique insight into retail property investment and means that Rob has a great understanding of the needs and requirements of landlords and investors.