Fifteen firms went bust in the Cambridge post code area in the last three months of 2009.  This compares with 24 the same time in 2008 but was up four on the third quarter of 2009.

This increase on the previous quarter is in contrast to the rest of the region, which saw fewer failures.

Chris McKay of local insolvency practitioners McTear Williams & Wood said: "Company solvencies fell 29% in East Anglia compared with 14% nationally set against the figures a year ago.  Overall, the number of insolvencies across the region is 43% higher than pre-credit crunch levels compared with an increase of 69% nationally.