When a building fails at auction four times, most people walk away – but not Josh Berry.

In today’s podcast episode, Josh shares his unconventional journey from estate agent life to developing a £1M food hall project in Denton, Manchester.

After valuing 400+ properties and learning the business inside out, Josh made the leap with a £50k credit card renovation that changed everything.

What we cover:

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  Why his food hall building failed auction four times (and why that was actually perfect)

  
  


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  The tranche funding strategy that secured £1M without personal guarantees

  
  


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  How councils are embracing food halls as ‘social incubators’ for forgotten towns

  
  


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  Planning applications that sailed through in 6 weeks (and why the council loved it)

  
  


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  The business model that charges vendors a percentage of revenue, not rent

  
  


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  Why Josh deleted his personal Instagram and started fresh with business content

  
  


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  His brutal honest take on property social media (spoiler: most of it's crap)

  
  


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  Handling public backlash when your development gets attacked on Facebook

  
  


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  The ‘third space' concept and why food halls are the future of community building

  
  

"There's only so many mahogany boxes and half-finished refurbs I can look at. It's a combination of being boring and completely wrong and misleading."

Josh proves that successful property development isn't about having the most money or the best tools (he's banned from touching anything on-site). It's about spotting opportunities others miss, understanding your market, and creating spaces that genuinely serve communities.

Whether you're interested in commercial development, community-focused business models, or just want to hear from someone doing property differently, this episode delivers the honest insights you won't find anywhere else.

No hype, no fluff, just the reality of building something meaningful from nothing.