Top cities for start-ups revealed

Bradford, Leicester and Coventry are among the best cities in the UK in which to start a business, according to Barclays’ SME Growth Factors Index, with some of the best growth environments for small businesses to grow and flourish.

The index, created by Barclays Business Banking, reflects the strength of 12 key growth factors such as business rate relief, infrastructure, broadband speed and labour productivity, all of which are essential to boosting business productivity and growth.

Analysing the 20 largest cities by population size across the UK, the index ranks each city based on the strength of each factor. The cities with the top growth environments for UK start-ups are:

1. Bradford
2. Leicester
3. Coventry
4. Edinburgh
5. Liverpool

Bradford was ranked the highest overall with the best business rate relief, road infrastructure, number of job vacancies, cost of commercial rent and business survival rate. Leicester came second helped by a strong business survival rate, distance travelled to work, and level of business rate relief. Coventry was third with the highest net migration into the city.

Additional analysis by Barclays showed that London, Birmingham and Leeds – areas in the UK with the highest populations – have witnessed the highest number of business start-ups over the past six years. In London alone, almost 577,000 start-up businesses have launched since 2012, with Birmingham and Leeds contributing an extra 71,000 start-ups between them.

However, when it comes to the strength of the growth factors in these cities, the results are less positive. London gives out some of the smallest amounts of business rate relief and has the highest commercial rent costs, securing England’s capital just 12th place in the rankings.