Northern firm to shut down Bradford base

LEADING Northern commercial firm Walker Morris is closing its Bradford office to work from a single base in Leeds.

The firm, which originally opened for business in Bradford, will shut its doors in the city at the end of this week.

Managing partner Peter Smart says the 26-partner firm wants to increase its regional, national and international presence and double in size within five years.

He says the expansions will occur without a merger or takeover, and without opening satellite offices.

"We have a simple strategy - to grow our business out of Leeds," says Smart. "It's a clear strategy and Bradford, as a satellite office, doesn't fit in with that."

The Leeds practice, which opened in 1965, now employs 310 staff, while only 15 employees, including seven fee-earners, work from the Bradford office.