REGIONAL accountancy firm Lovewell Blake is to open a new office in Bury St Edmunds, bringing its network of branches around Norfolk and Suffolk to a total of 10.

The expansion into Bury, where the firm has taken space on the Hillside Business Park, comes just over a year after it established joint premises (with law firm Rudlings Wakelam) in Long Melford.

Douglas Young, managing partner at Lovewell Blake, which has 26 partners and 233 staff, said: “We appreciate that Bury St Edmunds is a key business centre for Suffolk and our new office there will give us better coverage of East Anglia.

“We already have a number of clients in the area which will give us the critical mass to move ahead.”

Mr Young said that this was a particularly exciting period for Lovewell Blake which, last autumn, moved its Norwich office to new premises and merged with another East Anglian, firm Banham Graham.

He said the firm’s strategy was characterised by two qualities – fierce independence and specialist skills – and .

pointed to its full range of specialisms, provided by the firmfrom agriculture to the construction industry and medical practices, as well as normal accountancy services, tax planning and business recovery.

“We strongly value our independence,” he said. “We know that second-tier national firms are very influenced by national core strategies which take the focus away from the local community.

“We look to respond to local needs to provide the service the market requires.”