24 Thameside, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 2LJ 01491 572 323 henley-reception@blandy.co.uk Mon to Fri, 09:00 to 17:30
Blandy & Blandy Henley-on-Thames · since 1733
Henley-on-Thames · since 1733 · three CQS partners on Thameside

Solicitors at twenty-four Thameside.Three Conveyancing Partners on one floor, since 2025.

Blandy & Blandy is a 292-year solicitors firm founded in Reading in 1733, with the Blandy name entering the practice in 1783 through John Blandy, who trained here in Henley under Francis Blandy, the town clerk. We have been back in Henley town since 2016 and at 24 Thameside, opposite Leander Club, since 2019. The Residential Property desk on the floor is three Conveyancing Quality Scheme partners: Luke McMath, Alexa McQueen-Turner and Denise Stradling, supported by the wider firm.

Request a call back Call 01491 572 323
The Angel on the Bridge pub at Henley-on-Thames, with the Thames flowing past and the Grade I-listed Henley Bridge stonework rising behind. Six minutes' walk from 24 Thameside.
Henley Bridge · six minutes from 24 Thameside · Grade I listed, 1786
Since 1733 292 years in continuous practice
Three CQS partners On one floor at 24 Thameside
Top tier Chambers UK and Legal 500, both 2026
Lexcel Law Society quality mark since 2003
The Henley desk

Three Conveyancing Quality Scheme partners on one floor.

The Henley office is Residential Property first. The three Partners listed below share the same Thameside floor and the same files: every Henley conveyance is run by one of them, named on day one, named at exchange, named at completion. Below them, Sidra Ahmed sits in Henley on the Wills, Probate, Tax & Trusts desk, supervised by Caroline Casagranda from Reading. For Family, Employment, Commercial Property, Corporate or Dispute work the relevant Partner travels in from Reading or Wokingham, or meets by video. Same firm, same file, same named Partner from first call to file close.

Luke McMath, Partner, Property at Blandy & Blandy Henley-on-Thames

Luke McMath

Partner, Property
Qualified 1997 · CQS accredited

Heads Property at the Henley office. Qualified 1997. Joined Blandy & Blandy in 2016 on the firm's acquisition of Collins Dryland & Thorowgood, Henley. Conveyancing across leasehold and freehold sales and purchases, new-build plot sales, probate sales, remortgages and transfers of equity, with the commercial-property and SDLT side of the practice as well. STEP, CRELA and Stamp Taxes Practitioners Group. ESTAS regional conveyancing award winner 2017. Appears on BBC radio as a property-law contributor.

Direct line 01491 528 020
Alexa McQueen-Turner, Partner, Residential Property at Blandy & Blandy Henley-on-Thames

Alexa McQueen-Turner

Partner, Residential Property
Qualified 2005 · CQS accredited

Partner in Residential Property at 24 Thameside since June 2025, on the firm's acquisition of McQueen Turner Solicitors of Station Road, the Henley practice she ran for twenty years. Leasehold and freehold sales and purchases, new-build properties, probate sales, remortgages, transfers of equity, plot sales for Henley landowners and small developers. Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme accredited.

Direct line 01491 528 023
Denise Stradling, Partner, Residential Property at Blandy & Blandy Henley-on-Thames

Denise Stradling

Partner, Residential Property
Qualified 2009 · CQS accredited

Partner in Residential Property at 24 Thameside since 2025, with fifteen years on Henley and Reading conveyancing files before joining the firm. Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives (FCILEX), Member of the Council of Licensed Conveyancers, CQS accredited. Leasehold and freehold sales and purchases, new-build, probate sales, remortgages and transfers of equity, with a particular ear for the leasehold blocks above Bell Street and Hart Street that still carry pre-1990s ground rents.

Direct line 01491 528 024
What the Henley office does

Built around riverside property. Backed by the full firm behind it.

The Henley office is, deliberately, the firm's Property door in the town. The Residential Property desk runs out of 24 Thameside; the rest of the firm's services (Family, Employment, Commercial Property, Corporate, Dispute Resolution, Wills, Probate, Tax & Trusts) come in to the Thameside office or meet you by video, run by the relevant Reading or Wokingham Partner.

Service

Residential Property

The core of the Henley office. Three Conveyancing Quality Scheme partners on one floor (Luke McMath, Alexa McQueen-Turner and Denise Stradling) share the residential desk. Freehold and leasehold sales and purchases across Henley town, Remenham, Wargrave, Hambleden, Shiplake, Sonning, Lower Shiplake and the wider South Oxfordshire and Berkshire river bracket. New-build plot sales, probate sales, remortgages, transfers of equity. Riverside and Thames-frontage purchases get the extra searches and the Environment Agency and riparian-rights checks that a town-centre conveyance does not need.

Service

Wills, Probate, Tax & Trusts

A private-client desk in Henley supported from the Reading office. Will drafting and review, Lasting Powers of Attorney (property-and-affairs and health-and-welfare), grants of probate, full administration of taxable and non-taxable estates, deeds of variation, lifetime gifts, IHT planning, contentious probate. Sidra Ahmed sits in Henley day-to-day; Caroline Casagranda (Partner, Wills/Probate/Tax/Trusts) supervises from Reading, with travel to Thameside when the matter calls for it. Often runs alongside a property sale (an estate downsizing, an LPA before a move).

Service

Commercial Property & Corporate

Lease work for Henley high-street tenants, riverside-frontage commercial deals, mixed-use development, small-business acquisitions and disposals, secured-lending support, landlord-and-tenant work both sides, 1954 Act lease renewals, dilapidations. The Henley office runs the local conveyance and pulls in the Reading commercial-property and corporate-commercial partners for the deal documents and the warranties. Same firm, same file, named partner.

Service

Family, Employment, Dispute

Available at Henley by appointment, drawing on the firm's Reading and Wokingham desks. Divorce and separation, financial settlement, child arrangements, prenuptial agreements; employment settlement agreements and Tribunal work; commercial litigation, contract disputes, contested probate, debt recovery. The named partner handles the file; meetings at Thameside, by video, or at Reading or Wokingham, whichever is easiest for the client.

Since 1733 · the Blandy connection runs through Henley

The Blandy name entered the practice here.

The original firm was founded in Reading in 1733 by Richard Simeon. Fifty years later, in 1783, John Blandy joined as Partner. John was Berkshire-born, but he trained as a solicitor in Henley-on-Thames under his father's cousin Francis Blandy, the town clerk of Henley. The Blandy name in the partnership came through Henley before it returned to Reading. It took until 2016 for the firm to be physically present in Henley town again; we have been here at 24 Thameside since 2019.

The first fifty years were Richard Simeon working alone in Reading from 1733, the sixth year of George II. Simeon's practice opened twelve years before the rising of the '45 and a hundred-and-six years before the first Henley Royal Regatta was rowed in 1839. The firm pre-dates the founding of the Royal Society of Arts (1754) and the Bank of England banknote-issue act (1745). What is now Blandy & Blandy began as a single solicitor's office.

The Henley training. In 1783 John Blandy joined the practice as Partner. The 24-year-old had served his articles up the river in Henley-on-Thames, under his father's cousin Francis Blandy. Francis was town clerk of Henley. The Blandy family had Henley roots that the Reading partnership did not. The firm became Blandy & Hodgson, then Blandy & Andrews (1795), then Blandy, Blandy & Andrews (1818) when John's son John Jackson Blandy joined. In 1858 the practice was, for the first time, called Blandy & Blandy. It has held that name continuously since 1917.

The return to Henley. The firm grew across Reading, Wokingham, then London. The Henley town presence came back in 2016 with the acquisition of Collins Dryland & Thorowgood, on Hart Street, a long-established Henley practice that brought Luke McMath in as Partner. In 2019 the office moved across to 24 Thameside, the riverside premises opposite Leander Club, and was opened by Chairman Brenda Long with Mayor Ken Arlett. In June 2025 the McQueen Turner Solicitors team of Station Road, a forty-year Henley firm, joined Blandy & Blandy at Thameside, taking the Henley Residential Property desk to three Partners on one floor.

“With the array of specialist talent on offer at Blandy & Blandy, there is no need to travel outside of Henley for expert legal advice.”

Councillor Ken Arlett, Mayor of Henley-on-Thames, opening 24 Thameside, June 2019
1733 Richard Simeon establishes the original solicitors' practice in Reading, in the sixth year of the reign of George II. The firm pre-dates the Bank of England note-issue act by six years, the Royal Society for the Arts by 21, and the Henley Royal Regatta by 106.
1759 John Blandy is born in Berkshire. He will train as a solicitor in Henley-on-Thames under his father's cousin, Francis Blandy, town clerk of Henley.
1783 John Blandy joins Simeon's Reading practice as partner. The firm becomes Blandy & Hodgson. The Henley training under Francis Blandy is now in the practice.
1858 With William Frank Blandy as partner, the firm is known as "Blandy & Blandy" for the first time. The name has held continuously since 1917.
2016 The firm acquires Collins Dryland & Thorowgood, the long-established Henley practice on Hart Street. Blandy & Blandy is back in Henley town for the first time as a named door. Luke McMath joins as Partner.
2019 The Henley office relocates from Hart Street to 24 Thameside, adjacent to the river and opposite Leander Club. Chairman Brenda Long cuts the ribbon with Ken Arlett, Mayor of Henley-on-Thames, and Helen Barnett, the town's Community Manager.
2025 McQueen Turner Solicitors of Station Road, a forty-year Henley practice, joins Blandy & Blandy. Alexa McQueen-Turner becomes Partner in Residential Property at 24 Thameside; Sidra Ahmed and Julie Alexander move with her. Denise Stradling joins later in the year as the third Property Partner on the floor.
2026 292 years in continuous practice, with three Conveyancing Quality Scheme partners sitting in one Henley building, opposite Leander Club, two doors from Farrow & Ball, six minutes on foot from Henley Bridge.
The specialism

Henley riverside files have their own checklist.

A Thames-frontage purchase is not a town-centre purchase. The searches are different, the consents history is different, and the points that hold up exchange are different. Below is the short list of things we go through on every Henley river-bracket file before we report on title. It is the kind of checklist a generalist will work out by the third or fourth Henley file. We have done a few more than that.

The Henley office is the Residential Property door for the firm in town because the work is consistent enough to keep three Conveyancing Quality Scheme partners on the same floor. Luke McMath has been doing this in Henley since the 2016 Collins Dryland & Thorowgood acquisition; Alexa McQueen-Turner since the McQueen Turner Solicitors days from 2005 onward; Denise Stradling for fifteen years on Henley and Reading files. None of the points opposite are unfamiliar.

The other side of the work that often arrives with a Henley sale, a probate sale of a downsizing estate, a Lasting Power of Attorney before a move, a Will revision tied to a property gift, sits with the Wills, Probate, Tax & Trusts desk: Sidra Ahmed in Henley, Caroline Casagranda supervising from Reading. The two desks talk; that is the whole point of having them in the same firm.

Henley river-bracket checklist

iRiparian (riverbank) ownership and the position of the title boundary at the water’s edge.
iiFlood Zone 2 and 3 searches and any Environment Agency consents history for works to the bank.
iiiMooring rights, mooring leases from the Environment Agency, and any historic boathouse consents.
ivConservation-area constraints (much of Henley town centre and the riverside frontage is within the conservation area) and the Henley Society’s position on alterations.
vPre-1990s ground rents on the Bell Street and Hart Street leasehold blocks, with rent-review clauses that need raising before exchange.
viRestrictive covenants from the historic riverside estates that still bind some Henley titles.
Around 24 Thameside

Three views from the office step.

The Blandy & Blandy office at 24 Thameside, Henley-on-Thames, viewed from the riverside walk. Adjacent to the river, opposite Leander Club, next to Farrow & Ball.
The office
24 Thameside
Opposite Leander Club, next to Farrow & Ball, two minutes from the bridge.
The Grade I-listed Henley Bridge, built 1786, viewed from the Oxfordshire bank of the Thames.
Henley Bridge
Grade I listed, 1786
Six minutes south of the office; the boundary between Oxfordshire and Berkshire runs down the middle.
The Thames at Henley-on-Thames, viewed from the towpath.
The river
The Thames, looking upstream
The frontage that puts a Henley conveyance in a different bracket from a town-centre one.
Request a call back

A first conversation, at no charge, with the supervising Partner.

Tell us briefly what the matter is and the best way to reach you. The supervising Partner (or the Partner on the relevant desk) will call you back, usually the same working day. There is no charge for the first conversation. No engagement letter is signed on the call. If you decide to proceed, we tell you in writing what the work will cost before any chargeable time begins.

If a call back is not what you need, ring the office directly on 01491 572 323 or email henley-reception@blandy.co.uk.

Routes to henley-reception@blandy.co.uk

Thank you. The supervising Partner will be in touch, usually the same working day.

Visit the office

Adjacent to the river, opposite Leander Club, next to Farrow & Ball.

24 Thameside, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, RG9 2LJ. Opposite Leander Club. Two doors from Farrow & Ball. Six minutes' walk from Henley Bridge. Open in Google Maps ↗

Opening hours

Mon09:00 - 17:30
Tue09:00 - 17:30
Wed09:00 - 17:30
Thu09:00 - 17:30
Fri09:00 - 17:30
SatClosed
SunClosed

Out-of-hours meetings by arrangement for clients who cannot reach Thameside in normal hours.

Parking nearby

  • Kings Road / Waitrose · RG9 2DG · three minutes
  • Greys Road · RG9 2AA · six minutes
  • Henley-on-Thames station · RG9 1AY · seven minutes
  • Blue-badge bays on Thameside, Hart Street and New Street
Frequently asked

Five questions worth answering before you call.

Is Blandy & Blandy really 292 years old, and how does Henley fit?

Yes. The firm was founded in Reading in 1733 by Richard Simeon, twelve years before the rising of the ‘45, and is the 25th-oldest law firm in the country. The Blandy connection runs through Henley: John Blandy (1759-1821) trained as a solicitor here in Henley-on-Thames under his father’s cousin Francis Blandy, the town clerk of Henley, before joining the Reading practice as partner in 1783. The firm has been called Blandy & Blandy continuously since 1917. We have been back in Henley town since 2016 (acquisition of Collins Dryland & Thorowgood, Hart Street), at 24 Thameside since 2019, and the Henley Residential Property desk grew to three CQS partners in 2025 with the acquisition of McQueen Turner Solicitors of Station Road.

I am selling a Henley house with river frontage. Is that any different from a town-centre sale?

Yes, materially. A Thames-frontage sale needs the extra environmental and flood-zone searches; the Environment Agency consents history; any riparian (riverbank ownership) and mooring-rights position; whether any structures over the water carry historic consents; and whether the title carries restrictive covenants about works to the bank or boathouses. Several Henley leasehold blocks (notably above Bell Street and Hart Street) still carry pre-1990s ground rents with onerous reviews, which need the leaseholder’s solicitor to know about them before exchange, not after. We handle Henley riverside files often enough that none of this is unfamiliar territory.

Do I deal with the same partner from start to finish?

Yes. The named partner you meet at first contact runs the file. The Henley Residential Property desk is three Partners (Luke, Alexa, Denise) plus a small supervised team. For Wills/Probate the file is supervised by Caroline Casagranda from Reading with Sidra Ahmed on-desk in Henley. For Commercial Property, Family, Employment or Dispute work the Henley file pulls in the relevant Reading or Wokingham Partner; the named Partner is named on day one and stays named.

Where do I park, and what is nearby?

24 Thameside has no on-site car parking. The nearest public car parks are Kings Road (Waitrose), RG9 2DG (three minutes on foot); Greys Road, RG9 2AA (six minutes); and Henley-on-Thames station, RG9 1AY (seven minutes). Blue-badge bays are available on Thameside, Hart Street and New Street. The office sits between Leander Club to the south and Farrow & Ball to the immediate north, six minutes on foot from Henley Bridge.

Can we have a first conversation before committing?

Yes. The first conversation with the supervising Partner is at no charge, at 24 Thameside, by video call or by telephone, whichever is easiest for you. We use that conversation to understand the matter, give you a feel for the right Partner and the right approach, and tell you in writing what the work will cost before any chargeable time begins. No engagement letter is signed at the first conversation.