WHEN Bish Witkowski and his wife Poppy set up Castles three decades ago, Sabinillas was little more than a beach with a few buildings and fishing boats scattered around.

Fast forward 31 years and the area has transformed into a hub for businesses, banks and restaurants, and is counted as home to thousands of expats, most of them British.

Much of this is thanks to Castles, which can count on up to 10,000 clients over the years, who have either bought through the company, or used it for accounting and advice.

Setting up in part as an agent and in part as an asesoria, in 1986, the company was able to act as a sort of one-stop shop for anyone looking to live or buy in the Manilva area. “When we first set up there was nobody else around,” explains Bish’s stepson Chris Rowland, who now runs the company on a daily basis alongside his brother Mike. “The nearest village was Castillo and it would take three hours to get to the airport and there was only basic infrastructure and amenities.

“The name comes from the idea that every man’s home is his castle, and that is what we are selling here; decent good value homes.” The company’s formula is a successful one, having survived a trio of recessions and growing from a team of just two to more than a dozen. “Our growth has been steady but strong, and it’s a customer-based business so we ensure to treat people very well,” continues Chris. “That’s how we have lasted so long, and there is nothing like positive word of mouth when it comes to a business, especially on this coast”.

The company – which handles everything from wills to company formations and from tax returns to home conveyancing – also prides itself on treating its staff like a family. “It’s very important to us that we build a familial environment and we all get on well with one another,” adds Chris. “It makes the day to day running of the business a heck of alot easier.” And with a few sales already under the belt this year, the company is looking forward to a strong 2017.

While Brexit made some British buyers more cautious, other nationalities have managed to fill in the void. “The main client base here has always been the British and it still is,” explains Chris, “And while they have been a little bit cautious since Brexit I am very confident that they will be back in full force once things settle down and some certainty returns. “Meanwhile we have seen more Germans, Dutch, Scandinavians and even some more French coming down to the coast, so we have been able to offset the fall in British sales.”

And it’s the company’s overriding ethos of integration that has got them this far. “That’s how it all started,” explains Sue Johns, who has worked on the company’s taxes for 14 years. “Bish had lived here for a number of years and spoke good Spanish so he would help expats who couldn’t speak Spanish to deal with the town halls and all other businesses, including other agents.

“He had become well integrated into the community after living in Ibiza for years and running a bar in Duquesa so it was logical for him to become a middleman between British buyers and Spanish agents, hence he decided to make a business out of it.” Now some thirty years later, Castles is the longest running estate agents in Sabinillas, and one of the longest running on the coast.