The current economic climate is challenging for businesses and individuals, however, difficult times often breed a new wave of entrepreneurs. There has been a steady increase in the number of start-ups and new businesses registered in the UK since the pandemic, despite founders having to navigate through some of the most challenging times. We’ve seen businesses face rising energy and food prices, importing and exporting complexities, government changes and a shrinking workforce. Despite this, it’s fantastic to hear that 5.5 million small or medium-sized businesses were set up in the UK in 2023, representing over 99% of the business population.
Based on these statistics, our team at Wildcat Digital decided to conduct this ranking study to identify the best cities in the UK for new entrepreneurs.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, an entrepreneurial city is a ‘city governed in ways that encourage private sector solutions to urban challenges rather than dependence on central government support through public expenditure.’
As a small business in a thriving city, we support both start-up businesses and household names as they grow. We see first-hand the advantages of being located in a flourishing business hub, which is why we created this report to help others in their entrepreneurial journey.
The Study
The rankings study analyses 30 of the UK’s biggest cities (based on population size), comparing data sources related to each city and its “entrepreneurial credentials”. The data was collated, analysed and ranked to reveal the 10 most entrepreneurial cities in the UK.
The factors we used to determine the top 10 are:
- A Higher Number of New Business Registrations (Business Births) per 100,000 people
- A Higher Business Confidence Score
- A Higher Number of Self-employed Workers per 100,000 people
- A Higher Number of Business owners on LinkedIn (based on profiles) per 100,000 people
Each of these 4 factors was given a score out of 100 (in proportion to the highest-scoring city in that specific category), with 100 being the highest possible score for each factor. The highest total score possible would therefore be 400.
The Results
Bradford named as the UK’s most entrepreneurial city
The city of Bradford comes out on top as the most entrepreneurial city in the UK. With a population of around 299,310, Bradford is the fifth-largest metropolitan authority in England. In fact, it is the third largest economy in the Yorkshire and Humber region after Leeds and Sheffield so it’s no wonder it scored so highly during our study.
Barclays Bank SME Growth Factors Index identified Bradford as the best place in Britain to start a business while the Sunday Times voted Bradford as one of the top 20 cities for business growth. Bradford is also set to be named the UK’s next “City of Culture” in 2025, a fantastic achievement for this up-and-coming entrepreneurial hub.
Bradford performed well across all four categories, scoring:
- 45 points for new business registrations
- 100 points for business confidence
- 36 points for number of self-employed workers
- 56 points for number of business owners on LinkedIn
It’s interesting to see that Bradford scored most highly for business confidence. This suggests the city offers plenty of potential for small businesses and upcoming entrepreneurs.
We reached out to Chaudhry Mobeen, the founder of MealPro, a Bradford-based business that offers ready-made healthy meals, to find out what makes the city such a great place to be right now.
Mobeen said,
“Bradford is an amazing place to own a business because of the strong sense of community here. The togetherness and the support found in the area is unlike anything you’d find in other parts of the UK. If you took the same situation and compared how it plays out in London versus Bradford, you’d see completely different outcomes”
He added, “I can personally attest to the unmatched community spirit in Bradford, having grown up in London. This culture of togetherness is evident in how businesses here help each other out. Just yesterday, we ran out of grated cheese on an unusually busy night, and a neighbouring business immediately stepped in to help us out without hesitation.”
Best Cities For…
Best for Business Births: Milton Keynes
Our first ranking factor was ‘New Business Registrations’, otherwise known as business births. We collected this data from the ONS’ 2022, Business Demography, which provides business birth rates across the UK. A higher proportion of new businesses being created suggests a thriving business ecosystem, with opportunity and support for local entrepreneurs.
In order to calculate the score, the best-performing city received 100 points. For example, Milton Keynes was the highest-scoring city at 19 and therefore scored 100 points on the overall ranking score and then each subsequent city received a score in proportion to this.
Best for Business Confidence: Sheffield, Leeds, Sunderland, Hull and Bradford
The second factor used in the rankings table was the ‘Business Confidence Score’, sourced from the Small Business Index, Quarter 1, 2024 (SBI). This data measured the confidence level of businesses by location using a most to least confident measuring key. We then translated the SBI score into our own rankings score (out of 100), ensuring the figures were relative to the rest of our study.
Interestingly, Reading came out with the lowest confidence score at -6.8 and therefore scored 22, whereas Sheffield, Leeds, Sunderland, Hull and Bradford all had a whopping 31.2 confidence score with SBI, equating to 100 points overall in our rankings.
Best for Self-Employment: Milton Keynes
Next up, we examined the ‘Number of Self-Employed Workers’, using data outlined in Statista’s ‘Number of Self-Employed Workers in The UK 2022’ graph.
Like the business births, we worked out the number of self-employed workers per 100,00 people to take into account the different sizes of each city.
London scored the lowest with 10 people being self-employed out of 100,00 people. On the other end, Milton Keynes came top, with 280 people per 100,000 being self-employed and therefore scored 100 points overall.
Business Owners On LinkedIn
The final ranking factor we considered was the number of self-proclaimed ‘Business Owners on LinkedIn’. This was essentially, how many profiles used the phrase as their title in their profiles. Effective networking is key to building a strong business, in today’s digital world, it’s imperative for start-ups and small businesses to have a community of experts and supporters behind them.
Like the previous factors, we calculated the number of business owners on LinkedIn (based on profiles) as a proportion of 100,000 people. As you can see, Southend-on-Sea scored the lowest at 123 “business owners” per 100,000, equating to 12 points overall while Reading scored the highest at 1,006 people, equating to 100 points.
Boost Your Online Presence In Your Local Area With Wildcat Digital
Wildcat Digital is an award-winning digital marketing agency located in the heart of Sheffield’s city centre. Committed to supporting start-ups and small businesses compete with bigger brands through smart digital marketing strategies, our team is passionate about helping businesses punch above their weight online.
As a small business ourselves, we understand the importance of seeing a return on investment, which is why we combine a commercially focused approach with transparency. We’ll never promise results we can’t deliver! If you’re hoping to boost your online presence in your local area, get in touch with our team of digital experts today!
Rachel Davies
Senior SEO Executive
