  We report the discovery of twenty-one hitherto unknown bright southern
ultracool dwarfs with spectral types in the range M7 to L5.5, together with new
observations of a further three late M dwarfs previously confirmed. Three more
objects are already identified in the literature as high proper motion stars;we
derive their spectral types for the first time. All objects were selected from
the 2MASS All Sky and SuperCOSMOS point source databases on the basis of their
optical/near-infrared colours, $J$-band magnitudes and proper motions. Low
resolution (R $\sim$ 1000) $JH$ spectroscopy with the ESO/NTT SOFI spectrograph
has confirmed the ultracool nature of 24 targets, out of a total of 25
candidates observed. Spectral types are derived by direct comparison with
template objects and compared to results from H$_2$O and FeH indices. We also
report the discovery of one binary, as revealed by SOFI acquisition imaging;
spectra were taken for both components. The spectral types of the two
components are L2 and L4 and the distance $\sim$ 19 pc. Spectroscopic distances
and transverse velocities are derived for the sample. Two $\sim$ L5 objects lie
only $\sim$ 10 pc distant. Such nearby objects are excellent targets for
further study to derive their parallaxes and to search for fainter, later
companions with AO and/or methane imaging.
