The office will be headed by Chris Bolshaw who will be accompanied initially by Jeremy Sharp (both coming from Charles Stanley and formerly of Truro Stockbrokers). They will be joined at the end of March by Simon Burnett, Matthew Dickinson, Jonathan Rowland, Rebecca Gouldstone and Alison Hubbard (all moving from Charles Stanley), it said in a statement yesterday.

The new office, coming in addition to its large centres in London and York, and its operational office in Romford, makes it Walker Crips’s ninth regional branch. It follows recent hires in the Birmingham, York and London offices. In its latest results, as reported here, it logged a fall in profits but revenues and assets under management increased.

Walker Crips' predecessors first dealt in shares for clients in 1914 and the firm has, via acquisitions, a history that goes back to the 18^th century.