Building buys a pint … for rightmove.co.uk

We have all spent the day at Property Week’s Resi ’08 conference. And in addition to learning all the reasons why the housing market is just not going to bounce back any time soon, Miles has also just faced the ordeal of appearing on a panel to give the world the benefit of his knowledge, and be grilled by Mira Bar Hillel, the Evening Standard’s formidable property editor. “At one point she accused the man from the RICS of being the devil, due to his position on estate agent ombudsmen,” he gasps, still shocked at the recollection.

However, Guinness in hand, he seems to get over it and is soon telling me how, when he first joined he joked with directors that 2p found on the floor of the office could justifiably count as the firm’s first ever revenue. “What do we do with it, I asked – we had no system for processing revenue.” It is a far cry from that to its £300m flotation in 2006.

Geoff says he has met the guy before: ‘You play golf naked, don’t you?’ ‘Er, yes,’ comes the slightly unnerved reply. ‘How did you know that?’

It takes the intervention of a relative stranger – from Oracle Investments – to move the conversation away from work-related topics. Geoff says he has met him before: “You play golf naked, don’t you?” “Er, yes” comes the slightly unnerved reply. “How did you know that?”

Golf, it appears, still plays some part in the world of corporate entertainment. But these days, Geoff tells me, it is not as simple as that. Our friend from Oracle Investments was apparently involved in a corporate game where at each hole a different challenge emerged – downing drinks, fending off volleys of paint balls, and, at one stage, removing clothes. Naked golf, it seems, is the way to get deals done in the property market.

When he appears on TV news he is often referred to as Miles Shipman, as if the younger brother of Britain’s most notorious serial killer

Katherine, an avid sports fan is less than convinced by the idea. “PRs,” she states, as if axiomatic, “don’t encourage naked golf playing.” Miles and Geoff seem stuck on the idea. “What’s your swing like?” asks Miles.

The conversation takes a slightly surreal turn. Miles, at one point, has to deny he had any connection with the untimely death of West Indian cricket coach Bob Woolmer 18 months ago during the cricket world cup in Jamaica. “It was suicide,” he assures me, in a slightly sinister tone.

It is not his first connection with untimely death, though. When he appears on TV news programmes he is often referred to as Miles Shipman, as if the younger brother of Britain’s most notorious serial killer. Geoff (Fricker), it emerges, has also had problems with mispronunciations of his surname, but with rude not lethal connotations. “Oh,” says Miles, about two minutes later, “I see. Geoff F …”