A BLACKBURN law firm has announced it is to close a 131-year-old office in a move that will lead to redundancies.

Haworth and Nuttall is shutting its office in Lord Street West, Blackburn.

Bosses said they had been planning to do so for three years following the amalgamation with Wilkinsons and acquisition of their premises at Strawberry Bank.

David McCraith, the senior partner at Haworth and Nuttall solicitors, said: “We have four offices in East Lancashire: two in Blackburn town centre and one each in Accrington and Great Harwood.

“The long term view of the partners has always been that from a commercial and practical point of view one office was preferable to two and we made a decision then to consolidate our two Blackburn offices into one to enable us to make our business more efficient, and financially stronger.

“As we consolidate our Blackburn presence into one office, there will unfortunately be some redundancies due to economies of scale but we will limit these as best we can as we greatly appreciate and value our staff and all the work they do for us.”

Haworth and Nuttall began practising in 1877 at 7 Lord Street West, Blackburn — the office they are now moving out of.

In 1984 the firm merged with Gilchrist Warburton to become Haworth, Nuttall and Warburton, but further amalgamations saw it become the company it is today.

As well as the Strawberry Bank office in Blackburn it has sites in Cannon Street, Accrington, and Bancroft Chambers, Great Harwood.