Kirklees tips London as a top location to run a business in the UK
New research ranking the top 10 locations to run a business based on evidence from a variety of metrics has been published, with five Yorkshire locations making it onto the table.
The research by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) which analysed a variety of measures linked to setting up a business including; the price per square foot for commercial rent properties, the number of finance and support schemes available from Government and the average download speeds for broadband.
Other measures which formed part of the rankings included the availability and cost of parking, 4G coverage, unemployment rates, and a number of data points from the Office of National Statistics including a quality of life score, and the number of arts, entertainment and recreation services/professional, scientific and technical businesses per 1000 18/34-year-olds.
The top ten places to run a business from in the UK according to these measures are:
- Leeds
- Kirklees
- London
- Bradford
- Liverpool
- Birmingham
- Wakefield
- Coventry
- Manchester
- Sheffield
With the average rent per square foot coming in at £30, Leeds is not the lowest cost destination to host a business. Kirklees takes that coveted spot with the average rent per square foot in the area costing only £13.50 (the average rent in Huddersfield).
However, Leeds ranked best in terms of low unemployment rates (4%), a high quality of life score (7.76), a large young population in the city (222,673) and a high annual pay (£33,245), culminating in city securing the overall top spot.
Looking outside of Leeds , other areas with the region also ranked highly for low rent prices alongside Kirklees, were Bradford (£15), Wakefield (£16)1 and Sheffield (£25).
Unsurprisingly, businesses based in the capital have access to a higher volume of government funding schemes. However compared to other regional locations everywhere within the Leeds City Region (including Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield and Kirklees) have access to an impressive 12 schemes, which is more than Manchester (10), Coventry (4) and Birmingham (3).
Roger Marsh OBE DL, Chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership and NP11 commented “We truly believe that the Leeds City Region has so much to offer, from top of the range office space and a thriving business scene, to an impressive talent pool, it’s a fantastic place for any business to start, or continue their journey.
“We’ve so far helped 11,000 businesses to grow through £43 million funding and have also launched the £2.5 million Digital Investment Fund which includes the #Grow and #Welcome programmes to help tech businesses thrive in our region.”
“With tech giants such as Channel 4 and Sky making the leap to the Leeds City Region, we look forward to welcoming more businesses to our community.”
