AN ANDOVER estate agent who has worked in the town for more than 20 years has voiced his support for the Advertiser’s Appreciation Campaign, describing the town as “extremely friendly”.

Wayne Turpin, co-director at Graham and Co estate agents, based on London Street, has worked in Andover for about 22 years, selling the town and its merits to hundreds of people.

Speaking to the Advertiser, he said: “During that time the dynamic of the buyer has changed. When I first started working here, we would predominantly sell to people living within Andover. Now 50-60 per cent of prospective purchasers don’t live in the area.

“Andover has sparked a lot of interest. Position-wise, it’s superb for commuting. The A303 (love it or hate it) is a phenomenal road. We’ve the A343 to Newbury where you can jump on the A34 to Oxford.”

Expanding on the benefits of Andover’s location, Wayne continued: “There’s nowhere we can’t get to really easily. Commutability into London is really good: one hour and nine minutes into London Waterloo. Yet we are still a very affordable commutable town, particularly when compared to other places, such as Winchester. We’re seeing a lot of people moving from more expensive areas, and buying a bigger, older style house with a lovely garden in an established part of town.

“There’s a lot of new development. However, this has enabled people to get on to the property ladder because new builds have offered help-to-buy schemes and part-buy - part-rent.”

Wayne echoed the recent comments made by town mayor Cllr Barbara Long buy highlighting the community feel of Andover.

“Even with all the modern development, Andover is still very much a small town,” he said. “It takes you five minutes to get across town, so it doesn’t matter where you buy, the station will be walkable or a few minutes’ drive.

“Step out of the town centre and in a matter of moments you are among beautiful, quintessential English villages. A great deal of them still have a shop and there are a lot of really good village schools. Prices step up noticeably - but they are stunning, stunning villages.”

Summing up why he truly loves Andover, he added: “I am proud to live in Andover. I am really pleased to be bringing my family up here. My wife wanders into town with the kids and everyone stops and says hello.

“You can park very easily. The sports centre they’ve recently rebuilt is amazing. There’s nothing that you can’t get in the town centre: supermarkets, hardware stores, it’s all there. Yes, there are a lot of empty shops, but that’s the same with every town.

“On the whole it is just an extremely friendly place to live. I enjoy it, I really enjoy it.”