Bristol is the best city in the UK to start a new business in 2019

We wanted to find out which city was best in the UK for new businesses

We’re extremely proud to be a Bristol-based business. Following our launch at the end of last year, we’re interested to know just how well Bristol compares to other major UK cities when it comes to starting a business.

In order to find out how well the largest cities compare, we looked at the key factors that are crucial for new businesses. These key factors included:

• Startup environment: How entrepreneurial each city really is, as well as how supportive and encouraging of new startups the environment is – as measured by the total number of new startups.
• Cost of office space: The average cost per desk for businesses looking for workspace.
• Internet connection speed – Reliable and fast connections are essential to all businesses, particularly those in the tech sector – for this we looked at average internet connection speed.
• Travel time to London – Most businesses will have clients or other partners in London so we looked at average train times into the capital.

The results

When looking at the totals across all the major factors – Bristol is the clear winner showing that it’s the best city in the UK when it comes to starting a business in 2019.

Dominic Baliszewski, co-founder and director of YOURS SINCERELY said:

“This research confirms what we’ve known all along, that Bristol is an absolutely fantastic place to start a business. Bristol already has a brilliant creative vibe, a raft of amazing businesses and a fantastic sense of community – now it has yet another thing to be proud of.”

London, Leicester and Birmingham came in second, third and fourth respectively. Although a close second, London suffered from a considerably higher than average desk price than other cities in the UK. Leicester also suffered from a high desk price and Birmingham from a lower than average concentration of start-ups, suggesting a less supportive environment. Full ranking can be found in the table below.

If you’re a growing business looking to supercharge your marketing strategy this year, or planning to launch a brand or product for the first time, we offer free 45 minute consultancy sessions with one of our experts for whatever you need. We’d love to hear from you.