Brighton takes third crown in Best Places to Start a New Business for 2019-20

The seaside resort of Brighton has once again been named the “Best location to start a small business in the UK” in a comprehensive study complied by Informi, the website offering free practical advice and support for small businesses, using data from the Centre for Cities compiled prior to the ongoing Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

Brighton previously won the crown in the annual study in both 2016 and 2018, with Ipswich taking the title in 2017. The 2019 study, which looked at the entire 2010s decade as a whole, saw Reading triumph.

This year’s study, released ahead of Small Business Saturday, looked at data from the last financial year, focusing on eight different criteria across the 63 largest towns and cities in the UK to determine where had the best environment for small and medium-sized businesses to succeed. Categories included the number of new businesses, current business stock, pollution levels and digital connectivity.

Brighton performed strong in overall business stock, the number of start-ups over the past year and low pollution levels – appearing in the top three in all three categories. Cambridge rose three places from the 2018 study to come second in this year’s list, followed by Edinburgh which fell one place to third.

Strong year for seaside locations

Alongside Brighton’s success, it was a strong year for places near the coast with Southampton rising seven places to take fifth in the list and Bournemouth going up 23 places since 2018 to come in seventh. Previous winner Ipswich also performed well, rising by 25 spots on the previous survey to finish in eighth place.

Position 2019-20	Location	Change since 2018*
1	Brighton	No change
2	Cambridge	+3
3	Edinburgh	-1
4	Reading	+3
5	Southampton	+7
6	Northampton	-3
7	Bournemouth	+23
8	Ipswich	+25
9	London	-5
10	Worthing	+5

*no annual study was undertaken for the 2019 year as Reading was named best place to start a small business across the 2010s decade, followed by Brighton and Northampton

Steven Drew, spokesperson for Informi said:  “2020 has been a challenging year for SMEs throughout the UK, due to the ongoing pandemic and uncertainty over Brexit. However, even during a time of uncertainty, there can be great hope that those with a strong, innovative business model and the resilience and flexibility to deal with a variety of economic and social circumstances can have a prosperous future. In that vein, it’s vital that our towns and cities contain the right ingredients for SMEs to thrive, creating thousands of local jobs along the way.

“Small businesses are the heartbeats of local economies, bringing new jobs and prosperity to regions as well as attracting external investment. Brighton has consistently shown it has a strong environment that is welcoming to entrepreneurs and we hope many others take lessons from what it has achieved.”

Sarah Springford, CEO at Brighton Chamber, added:   “I could not agree with Steven more!

“Brighton has a history of having a higher-than-average number of start-ups. In fact micro and small businesses with less than 10 employees make up 97% of all businesses here and are key to the economy.

“Brighton has all the right ingredients for nurturing start-ups including many wonderful new flexible work spaces, two excellent universities and people with the creative and entrepreneurial mindset who are attracted to living in wonderful coastal cities like Brighton.

“2020 has seen many early stage and new businesses join Brighton Chamber. There is excellent support for start-ups in Brighton including Brighton Chamber’s Catch the Wave programme and the Business Hothouse.”

Best places to start a business in the UK 2019-20: Full List 

1. Brighton
2. Cambridge
3. Edinburgh
4. Reading
5. Southampton
6. Northampton
7. Bournemouth
8. Ipswich
9. London
10. Worthing
11. Bristol
12. Oxford
13. Luton
14. Exeter
15. York
16. Aldershot
17. Portsmouth
18. Aberdeen
19. Liverpool
20. Wigan
21. Slough
22. Derby
23. Chatham
24. Gloucester
25. Cardiff
26. Preston
27. Plymouth
28. Manchester
29. Birkenhead
30. Dundee
31. Southend
32. Hull
33. Warrington
34. Belfast
35. Leeds
36. Swindon
37. Blackpool
38. Glasgow
39. Milton Keynes
40. Birmingham
41. Leicester
42. Crawley
43. Burnley
44. Nottingham
45. Blackburn
46. Huddersfield
47. Bradford
48. Basildon
49. Coventry
50. Peterborough
51. Newcastle
52. Norwich
53. Newport
54. Sheffield
55. Telford
56. Swansea
57. Mansfield
58. Middlesbrough
59. Stoke
60. Doncaster
61. Barnsley
62. Wakefield
63. Sunderland

An interactive infographic showing the ranking of each city overall and on each criteria used is available here.

For more information please visit informi.co.uk

04/12/2020