Glasgow firm Golds has ventured south of Hadrian's Wall by opening an office in Manchester.

It has hired property and banking specialist Daniel Hickey from Liverpool firm Bermans and litigator Steven Lewis from Beachcroft Wansbroughs in Manchester as partners to spearhead the move.

Golds, which has a further nine partners north of the border, already has 25 staff in Manchester.

Senior partner Stephen Gold said: 'Two of our key areas of business are banking and litigation.

During the last 15 years, we have devised processes that have proved highly successful in Scotland, so much so that our clients began to ask for those to be delivered in England.

'We began doing the English work from Scotland, but as the potential and demands grew we decided that we needed people qualified in English law on the ground.'

He said Golds' market was now the UK, rather than one specific area.

'We chose Manchester because it is a major commercial centre and there is a good supply of qualified professionals there for us to draw from.

It is also not too far from our base in Glasgow.'