UK Entrepreneurship Reaches Record High

by Startacus Admin

Figures released yesterday 06/01/15 by StartUp Britain, based on research by the Centre for Entrepreneurs think tank, has revealed something which we at Startacus had been tentatively expecting.

UK Entrepreneurship reached a record high in 2014 with the highest number of businesses being created within a single year in the country's history.

Brace yourself - the figures are startling!

Over the course of 2014, some 581,173 businesses were registered by Companies House; yes you read that right, five hundred and eighty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-three! That's a steep increase from the year before when 526,447 businesses were created, and 2012 when the figure stood at 484,224.

Our questionable maths skills notwithstanding, we reckon this equates to a solid 20% increase in the number of new businesses being created annually in the UK within the space of just 2 years!

Of course these figures do come with one small caveat, which is that they show only the number of registrations which have taken place, and not how many of these have actually become trading enterprises. But fiddly details aside, I think we can safely say they serve as a fair indication that the country’s entrepreneurial spirit is growing…and fast!

With over 8 million inhabitants it’s unsurprising that the Greater London Area comes out on top with 184,671, far in excess of any other city. Second on the list is Birmingham with 18,337 and third is Manchester with 13,054.

Here are the top ten cities with the highest number of business registrations:

Greater London 184,671
Birmingham 18,337
Manchester 13,054
Brighton 8,344
Glasgow 8,173
Bristol 8,130
Sheffield 8,052
Nottingham 7,641
Warrington 7,529
Edinburgh 7,480
Coventry 7,059

After puzzling over these numbers for a little while, we wondered which of these cities has the highest number of new businesses registered in 2014, per head of population; surely this figure would give a more accurate indication of where the greatest entrepreneurial spirit is to be found?

Armed with our abacus and an old piece of slate - this is what we came up with.

Cities, towns and the ratio of new businesses to people:

Warrington 1 / 27
Brighton 1 / 32
Manchester 1 / 38
Nottingham 1 / 40
Greater London 1 / 43
Coventry 1 / 46
Bristol 1 / 53
Birmingham 1 / 59
Edinburgh 1 / 65
Sheffield 1 / 69
Glasgow 1 / 72

Important note! Within the figures published by StartUp Britain each city referred to is taken to be that which lies within its particular postcode. In lieu of the exact population figures we’ve had to take a little bit of liberty in our calculations.

In our fairly unscientific estimation, Warrington becomes the most entrepreneurial place in the UK. Congratulations to you Warrington!

What these figures also suggest is that whilst cumulative totals may not be as spectacular outside of the capital, new business creation is happening on an intensive scale in places like Brighton, Manchester, Nottingham, and indeed right across the country.

Further to this sustained increase in the number of new businesses, figures from the Office for National Statistics also suggest a significant drop in the number of businesses which are failing. It claims that there were 6% less businesses dropping out of the Companies House Register in 2014 down from 253,000 to 238,000.

But whichever way you look at it, this is very good news for the country as a whole. New business creation is one of the key indicators of the health of a nation’s economy and this sustained upward trend is being widely praised as a highly encouraging sign.

Big thanks to the good folks at StartUp Britain for the facts and figures!

Now for a nice cup of coffee after all that number crunching. 

Why not take a look at our bank of features, articles and discussions of entepreneurialism in these UK Cities?
Belfast, Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield

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Published on: 7th January 2015