The head of a well-known estate agency firm in Woodbridge says it is “business as usual”, despite two related companies being wound-up in the High Court.

Scott Matheson-Barr, principal at Gobbitt & Kirby, which is based in The Thoroughfare, said a decision to merge the business’s activities, which include agency and lettings work, into a single company had been taken last year following advice from its accountants and Companies House.

According to announcements in the February 2 edition of the London Gazette, an official journal of record for the Government, Gobbitt & Kirby Property Services Ltd and Gobbitt & Kirby (Lettings) Ltd were both wound up at the High Court in London on January 31.

This followed the filing of winding-up petitions last November by the commissioners for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), which was identified in notices in the London Gazette at the time as a creditor of both companies.

However, a separate company, Gobbitt & Kirby Ltd, which like the two other companies has its registered office at 20 The Thoroughfare, Woodbridge, remains active and is not in liquidation.

Scott Matheson-Barr is listed at Companies House as the sole director of Gobbitt & Kirby Ltd. He was also listed as a director of both Gobbitt & Kirby Property Services Ltd and Gobbitt & Kirby (Lettings) Ltd until resigning from both in May last year.

Mr Matheson-Barr said that, despite the winding-up orders, it was very much as case of “business as usual” for Gobbitt & Kirby.

“Nothing has changed,” he said. “Following guidance from our accountants and Companies House, I made the responsible and informed decision a year ago, to merge both companies into the one existing company, to save as to costs, therefore consolidating a good business in an increasingly competitive market place.”

He added that he had been engaged in discussions with HMRC but the taxman had ultimately opted to go down the route of petitioning for winding-up orders.

Gobbitt & Kirby is one of the oldest business names in Woodbridge. Although the estate agency business was only established in 1989, it takes its name from a grocery business which was formed in 1817 and operated from the same building.