Devon fudge

In a recent interview, the managing partner of Bond Pearce, commenting on the announcement of the closure of the firm’s Exeter office, explained

We are committed to the Devon practice. What I would say to them  is ‘look at what the clients are saying to us’, which is that they are looking for a different sort of offering from us, which does not require us to be in every city in every part of our region.

So far so good, but these brave words are only a little undermined by the (unconfirmed) report that although Bond Pearce is moving out of Southernhay Gardens, it is still intending to have a “box on the motorway” at Exeter, to see clients, and no doubt to allow its Exeter based partners to avoid having to flog down the A38 everyday.

As the Chief Executive of another Devon firm told me last week, “It’s just a fudge”.