Property folk toast Owen’s 70th

Hundreds of Liverpool's great and good, past and present turned out to mark the 70th birthday of Barry Owen, chairman of surveyors Mason Owen.

Owen held three parties to celebrate the milestone. Senior colleagues and long-standing contacts joined him for lunch at the Artists Club, followed by a bigger evening reception for the rest of Mason Owen's 62 staff along with associates and clients at Restaurant Bar & Grill. A family party concluded celebrations at home on the day of his birthday, Sunday 29 April. All of the gatherings were paid for out of his own pocket, not by the firm.

Owen started his career at Bernard Thorpe & Partners in 1963, and set up Mason Owen with Geoff Mason in 1967. Owen received an OBE from the Queen on 5 November 2009 for services to charity and the property industry. He is married with six children and 12 grandchildren.

Mason Owen specialises in retail property services, for clients including Iceland, Co-operative Food, Blue Inc and Asda. The practice turns over around £5m in fees a year.