RAISE A GLASS to Geraldine and Denis Bergin who are celebrating 25 years in the estate agency business this year. Bergins is an old-fashioned family-run business that prides itself on personal and discrete service.

“We started at the very worst of time in 1984 and here we are again in another recession 25 years later,” says Geraldine.

When Bergins first opened back in the mid-1980s it was just the two of them and secretary Siobhan, now daughters Nicola and Sara are also on board.

Misty the dog used to be a regular in the office too, but she has refused to “come to work” since a serious fire destroyed Bergins’ offices at 17 Upper Baggot Street some years ago. Like every other member of the family, Misty had property in the bones and she even secured Bergins the sale of a house, recalls Geraldine. “The vendor reckoned that anyone who brings a dog to work must be very caring and gave us the sale of the house.”

Notable sales in Bergins 25-year history include the sale of 12 Aylesbury Road for £565,000 in 1989 – a record for the year. Bergins also handled the sale of the Beckett house in Foxrock that same year. A particular gem on the books at Bergins at the moment is 31 Wellington Place – a former home to the Slazenger family. One of the most coveted houses in the area it has an official price tag of €12.5 million. The buyers are there but the banks won’t finance, says Geraldine.

Twenty-fifth celebrations have taken a bit of a back seat with the recent engagement of Sara to Michael James Liddy, a captain in the Irish Air Corp no less and a dab hand at the sailing, we believe.