A familiar name has returned to Hampshire high streets this week with the the relaunch of the Churchers Solicitors brand throughout Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth.

The Churchers Solicitors name had existed since 1886 butdisappeared when the firm merged with Bolitho Way in 2013 to form Churchers Bolitho Way.

But after talking to clients and staff the partners of the merged firm have decided to switch back to the Churchers name and have relaunched their branding.

Managing partner Ian Robinson said: “Both Churchers and Bolitho Way had long heritages when we merged but a little bit of both of them was lost when we combined the names.

“We decided we should restore the Churchers name because that is a name with which many people have grown up and which has been familiar throughout Portsmouth, Fareham and Gosport for many years. It is like the return of an old friend.”

The firm - which has offices in Ryde, Lee-on-the-Solent and Cosham as well as its offices in Gosport, Portsmouth and Fareham - was originally founded by two brothers in Gosport in the 19th Century.

Originally known as Churcher and Churcher it quickly became recognised as Churchers.

Ian added: “We have taken this opportunity to freshen up our brand with a new logo and a new website that we hope will enable us to be even more accessible to people across the Solent area.

“There is no change to our ethos of providing the very highest quality legal services from local offices in convenient town centre locations - in fact we intend to develop the expertise we have on offer to the public and to business across the south under our new Churchers banner.

“Our heritage covers 130 years of providing legal services in this area - this relaunch really sets us up for the next phase in our history on the south’s high streets.”

Churchers Solicitors, was founded in the year that Gladstone became Prime Minister for the third time.

Founder Emmanuel Churcher lived at Bridgemary House in Alverstoke and died there in May 1887 just a year after establishing the firm. His sons, William and George Churcher, practised out of the then Star Chambers building at 35 and 36 High Street, as Churcher and Churcher.

George Churcher died in 1938.

The third and final generation of Churchers to practise in the firm was Russell Churcher, known as Pip, the son of William Churcher and the grandson of Emmanuel Churcher, who was born in 1913. Russell Churcher Court in Gosport is named after him.