One of the glories of North West England is Hamilton Square which is a little bit of Edinburgh in Birkenhead. Designed by James Gillespie Graham who was the architect of much of the New Town, Hamilton Square is said to have more listed buildings than any other public square in England except Trafalgar Square itself.At number 15 stands Potts Kerr, a patent agency for which I have always had a particular regard. Now it is not every city in England that has a patent agency and they are especially rare in the second city of a conurbation. Bradford, for instance, has no patent or trade mark agents even though it has a population of nearly 300,000, a good university doing excellent research and a whole host of high tech businesses in everything from electronics to pharmaceuticals and the reason for that it its proximity to Leeds. All the more remarkable that Birkenhead has Potts Kerr which is just across the river from Liverpool even though the industries that created the town are in decline.
Potts Kerr was acquired by Birmingham agents Forrester Ketley (now called Forresters) who are, of course, another good firm. But they are a Brummie firm. So I was overjoyed that they allowed their Birkenhead acquisition retain its brand. Alas, that is to change according to a report in today's North West Business Desk.
Forresters' partner Matthew Shaw is reported as saying:
"Sharing a common name and presenting a more unified approach will strengthen the association between our offices and provide clients throughout the UK and worldwide with easier access to our resources, specialist capabilities and expertise."
I wonder. We Northerns are a bolshie bunch, especially in the Wirral, and we don't take kindly to regimentation. Remember Stanley Holloway's "Sam, Sam pick up thy musket". Nevertheless, I wish David Gilmour and his chums the best of luck in their new moniker.
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