We are immensely proud to be celebrating the firm’s 70th anniversary, which is a testament to our ability to adapt and innovate. Lewis Golden LLP has a rich history, and we enjoy being able to look back at who has worked here, and how this has impacted the way we are today.
“Lewis Golden & Co.”, as it was then, was founded in 1950. Despite the name, our founder, Lewis Golden, was in fact a sole practitioner, who “hoped the ‘& Co.’ would come along later”. This is a far cry from the firm of today; we have expanded over the years, widening the breadth of services and hiring experts to provide an excellent service to our clients.
From humble beginnings the firm expanded to occupy the whole of 40 Queen Anne Street. In 2008 we expanded into a second office at 56 Queen Anne Street which we left 10 years later to take on more modern space at 32 Wigmore Street. Our two thriving offices are just around the corner from one another with our ‘forever home’ at 40 Queen Anne Street, and the second-floor offices at 32 Wigmore Street, both in the heart of London’s West End.
One of our partners, Neil Benson O.B.E. became a partner of the firm in 1963, having joined the practice in 1961 after completing his five year articles. By 1988, the firm had grown to four partners including Andrew Moss, and by 1997 to six partners, including David Edwards, Keith Mitchell and Stuart Webber, all of whom remain active members of our team today. We continued to expand, and the partnership now has of nine members, with Alex Parker, Paul Dent, Peta Parker and Neil Edwards joining the ranks over the 2000’s and 2010’s. The team has grown from, a handful to nearly 70 people at the firm.
It was the 1990’s when we honed our skills working with significant high net worth individuals and their luxury assets, a specialism that carries on to this day. The range of services has widened over the years from audit accounting and taxation work, to include payroll, tax planning and governance assistance, specialist taxes such as VAT and CIS, special assurance, advisory and interim review services. We provide a fully outsourced accounting function for some clients and most recently, when it was permitted by the Legal Services Act, we started to provide a full IHT, probate and Estate administration service. We pride ourselves on being adaptable and highly skilled in all our disciplines.
Training and development has been part of the firm’s ethos since the beginning. We pride ourselves in the quality of our training and our goal to foster future generations of Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisors. We care about our trainees, we want them to thrive and become the best that they can be within this profession. This training aspect of the firm has enabled it to grow at a steady rate. Many of our Partners today joined the firm as a trainee and progressed within the firm. We are happy to celebrate this, and we believe that the familial feel of the firm has been instrumental in us thriving over seventy years.
As our team has grown and our skillset has evolved we have retained the collaborative and collegiate approach that even our longest standing alumni would recognise. Strong relationships are fostered through social events, often involving alumni, including our annual garden party, tennis evening, walking tour of London, quizzes, bowling and other less-formal get together. These all offer a great opportunity for alumni and current colleagues to meet, catch up and network.
Looking to the future, we are excited by what it holds. Coming through this year’s Covid-19, we continue to recruit new talent, with five new team members joining us at the start of their careers in the next month. The firm is also continuing to train in new technologies to serve the needs of our clients in an ever-changing world. We look forward to a bright and prosperous future for the firm, our team and all of our clients.