Cheltenham · Established 2011 · SRA and ICAEW regulated
Legal and financial advice you can read, understand and rely on.
Rowan and Cole is a small firm of solicitors and chartered accountants working from the same building on Rodney Road. Your solicitor and your accountant talk to each other, so you only have to explain things once. Every fee is confirmed in writing before we start.
Areas of practice
Six things we do well, and nothing we do badly
We deliberately keep the list short. If your matter falls outside it, we will say so on the first call and point you to someone who does it every day.
Residential property
Sales, purchases, remortgages and transfers of equity across Gloucestershire and beyond. You get one named solicitor, a weekly update by email and a completion date that we fight for.
Family law
Divorce, financial settlements, children arrangements and cohabitation agreements. We favour negotiation and mediation where it is realistic, and we go to court properly prepared when it is not.
Wills, probate and powers of attorney
Plain-English wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and full estate administration. We explain inheritance tax in numbers you can check, and we hold original documents in our fireproof strongroom at no charge.
Employment law
Settlement agreements, unfair dismissal, redundancy, contracts and staff handbooks. We act for employees and for owner-managed businesses with up to around fifty staff, but never for both sides of the same dispute.
Tax returns and bookkeeping
Self Assessment, partnership and company tax returns, VAT, and monthly bookkeeping in Xero or QuickBooks. Deadlines are diarised for you, and we file in good time rather than on 31 January at 11pm.
Company formation and payroll
Limited company set-up with the right share structure from day one, registered office, Companies House filings, and payroll run on time every month with pension auto-enrolment handled.
The firm
Two disciplines, one conversation.
Rowan and Cole began in 2011 when Eleanor Rowan, a property and private client solicitor, and James Cole, a chartered accountant, kept sending each other the same clients. A house purchase raised a stamp duty question. A divorce needed a business valued. A new company needed a shareholders' agreement and a payroll scheme in the same week.
We took two floors of a Georgian building on Rodney Road and put both practices under one roof. Today we are a team of nine: four solicitors, three accountants and two people who make sure the phone is answered and the post goes out.
We do not do volume work. We take on around 30 new matters a month, which is the number that lets each client have a partner's mobile number.
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Regulated
Solicitors authorised by the SRA; accountants members of ICAEW
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Fees in writing
a scope and a fixed fee before any work starts, every time
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Since 2011
more than 3,400 matters completed in Gloucestershire and beyond
Who you will actually be dealing with
Every matter is supervised by one of the two partners, and you will meet them at the first appointment rather than at the end.
Eleanor Rowan · Partner, Solicitor
Qualified in 2001 and spent nine years at a regional firm in Bristol before founding Rowan and Cole. Eleanor leads on property, wills and probate, and is a full member of STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners). She still personally drafts every will that leaves the office.
James Cole · Partner, Chartered Accountant
ICAEW chartered accountant since 2004, formerly a manager in the owner-managed business team at a national practice in Cheltenham. James looks after tax, bookkeeping, payroll and company matters, and has a particular interest in the tax position of family businesses and landlords.
How an engagement works
Four steps, no surprises
1. A confidential first conversation
Use the form below or call us. Within one working day you will hear from the partner who would handle your matter, not from a call centre.
2. A written scope and a fixed fee
After the initial meeting you receive a client care letter setting out exactly what we will do, what it will cost, and what could change the price. You sign nothing until you are happy.
3. The work, with weekly updates
Property clients get a Friday email whatever the news. Accounting clients get a monthly summary. You can always see where your matter stands in our secure client portal.
4. Completion and a plain-English summary
When the matter closes you get a one-page note of what was done, what to keep, and any dates to diarise, such as a tax deadline or a lease renewal.
Clients
What people say once the file is closed
We bought and sold on the same day in a chain of five. Eleanor rang us every Friday for eleven weeks, even when the news was 'nothing yet'. The invoice matched the quote to the penny.
James set up the company, sorted VAT registration and runs payroll for our six staff. When I had a question about taking dividends, the answer came back the same afternoon with the actual numbers.
After my mother died the estate ran to three properties and a lifetime of paperwork. Rowan and Cole handled probate, the inheritance tax return and the sale of the house. I never once had to explain the situation twice.
Transparent fees
Fixed fees for the work we do most
Prices include VAT where stated. Conveyancing, family and employment matters are quoted individually in writing after a first meeting, because no two are the same.
Single will
- Meeting with a solicitor, in person or by video
- Plain-English draft within 10 working days
- Signing supervised in our office
- Original stored free in our strongroom
- Mirror wills for a couple: £395
Self Assessment tax return
- Employment, pension, dividend and savings income
- One rental property included; £60 per additional property
- Filed with HMRC and a copy for your records
- Reminder in September, not in January
- Chartered accountant checks every return
Company formation package
- Limited company registered at Companies House
- Share structure and articles advised by a solicitor
- Registered office at Rodney Road for 12 months
- Corporation Tax and PAYE registration
- One-hour set-up meeting with a chartered accountant
Common questions
Before you get in touch
Is the first conversation confidential?
Yes. Anything you tell us in an enquiry, on the phone or at a first meeting is covered by professional confidentiality and, for legal matters, by legal privilege, whether or not you instruct us afterwards.
Do I need to use both the legal and the accounting side?
No. Around two thirds of our clients use only one. The benefit of having both under one roof is simply that, when a matter does cross over, nothing gets lost between two firms.
What happens if the fixed fee turns out to be wrong?
The fixed fee is ours to bear unless something we listed in the client care letter as outside the scope actually happens, for example a lease defect on a purchase or a late set of records for a tax return. If it does, we tell you before doing the extra work and agree the price.
Can you work with clients outside Cheltenham?
Yes. Roughly 40% of our property and accounting clients are elsewhere in England and Wales. Meetings can be held by video, documents are signed electronically where the law allows, and originals travel by tracked post.
How do you hold my money and my documents?
Client money is held in a separate client account at a UK bank in line with the SRA Accounts Rules and is never mixed with the firm's own funds. Original wills and deeds are stored in our fireproof strongroom free of charge for as long as you are a client.
What are your office hours?
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm, at 14 Rodney Road, Cheltenham GL50 1HX. Early evening appointments are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays by arrangement.
Tell us what is on your mind. We will tell you what it will cost.
A partner replies within one working day. There is no charge for the first conversation and no obligation after it.
Confidential enquiry
How can we help?
A few lines are enough. If the matter is urgent, for example an exchange date or a tribunal deadline, please say so and we will call you back the same day.
- enquiries@rowanandcole.co.uk
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14 Rodney Road
Cheltenham GL50 1HX, two minutes from the Promenade
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Monday to Friday
9am to 5.30pm, evening appointments by arrangement
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01242 000 412
or enquiries@rowanandcole.co.uk