business confidence reports ยป town league tables
Our town league tables rank the top 100 UK towns on a number of key business confidence metrics. You can use these league tables to check the relative performance of one town against another.
The top 100 towns are defined as those with the largest number of active companies at the start of the period selected. The top 100 towns are used so as not to skew the league tables with data that is not statisically relevant.
An active company for the purpose of these league tables is defined as one that has not been dissolved, though it is possible that active companies will include a number of non trading companies or companies intending to dissolve.
The data is calculated from Companies House register of companies in England & Wales (Cardiff), Scotland (Edinburgh) and Northern Ireland (Belfast). Geographical boundaries and groupings are performed using prioprietary data modelling and software.
- This table organises the top 100 towns by their relative net growth during the period selected
- Net growth is a product of new companies created minus companies which have been dissolved
- The percentage figure shows relative growth in relation to the number of active companies at the start of the period
| town | rank | growth % | growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warrington | 1 | 3.97 | 717 |
| Romford | 2 | 3.45 | 273 |
| Hounslow | 3 | 3.29 | 210 |
| Wirral | 4 | 3.24 | 251 |
| Chesterfield | 5 | 2.95 | 177 |
| Lincoln | 6 | 2.94 | 251 |
| Rotherham | 7 | 2.91 | 169 |
| Watford | 8 | 2.75 | 296 |
| Leeds | 9 | 2.65 | 885 |
| Hove | 10 | 2.26 | 305 |
| Poole | 11 | 2.21 | 248 |
| Northampton | 12 | 2.19 | 348 |
| Blackpool | 13 | 2.19 | 138 |
| Southampton | 14 | 2.19 | 377 |
| Peterborough | 15 | 2.01 | 198 |
| Bradford | 16 | 1.99 | 226 |
| Wakefield | 17 | 1.89 | 129 |
| Enfield | 18 | 1.88 | 120 |
| Wolverhampton | 19 | 1.73 | 178 |
| Luton | 20 | 1.73 | 182 |
| Aylesbury | 21 | 1.72 | 113 |
| London | 22 | 1.61 | 10716 |
| Ilford | 23 | 1.6 | 277 |
| Wembley | 24 | 1.6 | 148 |
| Nottingham | 25 | 1.55 | 480 |
| Croydon | 26 | 1.53 | 208 |
| Gloucester | 27 | 1.52 | 103 |
| Bristol | 28 | 1.51 | 680 |
| Doncaster | 29 | 1.5 | 159 |
| Slough | 30 | 1.49 | 168 |
| Leicester | 31 | 1.47 | 377 |
| Birmingham | 32 | 1.47 | 950 |
| Liverpool | 33 | 1.45 | 375 |
| Coventry | 34 | 1.42 | 284 |
| Solihull | 35 | 1.41 | 122 |
| Huddersfield | 36 | 1.39 | 110 |
| Altrincham | 37 | 1.38 | 134 |
| Horsham | 38 | 1.33 | 78 |
| Harrogate | 39 | 1.3 | 84 |
| Harrow | 40 | 1.3 | 270 |
| Bromley | 41 | 1.26 | 85 |
| Oldham | 42 | 1.26 | 90 |
| Woking | 43 | 1.2 | 96 |
| Bedford | 44 | 1.15 | 127 |
| Barnsley | 45 | 1.15 | 67 |
| Colchester | 46 | 1.14 | 133 |
| Belfast | 47 | 1.13 | 163 |
| Worcester | 48 | 1.13 | 76 |
| Maidenhead | 49 | 1.12 | 73 |
| Cambridge | 50 | 1.11 | 159 |
| York | 51 | 1.11 | 139 |
| Wigan | 52 | 1.08 | 63 |
| High Wycombe | 53 | 1.07 | 91 |
| Worthing | 54 | 1.06 | 72 |
| Hull | 55 | 1.04 | 100 |
| Milton Keynes | 56 | 1.04 | 173 |
| Guildford | 57 | 1.02 | 75 |
| Sutton | 58 | 1.01 | 70 |
| Glasgow | 59 | 1.01 | 457 |
| Exeter | 60 | 1.01 | 74 |
| Newcastle Upon Tyne | 61 | 1.01 | 153 |
| Derby | 62 | 0.98 | 137 |
| Manchester | 63 | 0.96 | 594 |
| Cardiff | 64 | 0.94 | 180 |
| Swindon | 65 | 0.93 | 97 |
| Basingstoke | 66 | 0.91 | 61 |
| Plymouth | 67 | 0.91 | 72 |
| Sheffield | 68 | 0.86 | 215 |
| Salisbury | 69 | 0.85 | 51 |
| Bolton | 70 | 0.84 | 104 |
| Eastleigh | 71 | 0.84 | 49 |
| Walsall | 72 | 0.83 | 60 |
| Stoke-On-Trent | 73 | 0.81 | 85 |
| Reading | 74 | 0.81 | 188 |
| Brighton | 75 | 0.79 | 113 |
| Barnet | 76 | 0.77 | 69 |
| Chester | 77 | 0.75 | 67 |
| Ipswich | 78 | 0.74 | 71 |
| Sutton Coldfield | 79 | 0.74 | 47 |
| Shrewsbury | 80 | 0.72 | 45 |
| Bath | 81 | 0.71 | 53 |
| Maidstone | 82 | 0.7 | 56 |
| Bournemouth | 83 | 0.65 | 72 |
| Aberdeen | 84 | 0.65 | 98 |
| Edinburgh | 85 | 0.63 | 232 |
| Preston | 86 | 0.58 | 76 |
| Ashford | 87 | 0.56 | 36 |
| Norwich | 88 | 0.53 | 78 |
| Oxford | 89 | 0.5 | 48 |
| St Albans | 90 | 0.48 | 49 |
| Hemel Hempstead | 91 | 0.39 | 27 |
| Sevenoaks | 92 | 0.27 | 16 |
| Chelmsford | 93 | 0.23 | 24 |
| Cheltenham | 94 | 0.18 | 20 |
| Edgware | 95 | 0.1 | 10 |
| Swansea | 96 | 0.06 | 5 |
| Westcliff-On-Sea | 97 | -0.35 | -26 |
| Tunbridge Wells | 98 | -0.39 | -29 |
| Stockport | 99 | -0.49 | -84 |
| Fareham | 100 | -0.66 | -47 |