Bangor has been named as the third most entrepreneurial small city in the UK, beaten only by Salford in Greater Manchester and Ely in the East of England. Lisburn came 10th in the latest league table with Belfast lagging well behind.
Some of the UK’s small satellite cities are experiencing rapid small business growth, as entrepreneurs move outside of their larger neighbours, new research shows.
Salford in the North West of England (population ~130,000) – just two miles from Manchester (population ~550,000) – is officially the UK’s most entrepreneurial city, with its concentration of small businesses increasing by 15.4% in the last twelve months.
The figures come from GoDaddy’s new Most Entrepreneurial City rankings, informed by data from the company’s Small Business Research Lab. Each place with city status in the UK is given a microbusiness density growth count, based on the number of new start-ups for each 100 people.
The big rise of the small city
Four of the top five Most Entrepreneurial Cities were found to be satellite cities. Ely, located 14 miles north of Cambridge, was the second most entrepreneurial city. Its microbusiness density score increased by 14.9%, more than double that of its larger neighbour Cambridge (+7.1%).
Cheaper property rents, advancing technology and lower start-up costs improve opportunities in satellite cities
Satellite cities are perfect for entrepreneurs in today’s challenging economic climate. They often offer materially cheaper cost bases for outgoings like property rent – the average rent in Salford is around £2,500 cheaper per year than in Manchester, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Technology has also advanced to a point where being in the thick of the action is no longer a key consideration for entrepreneurs. Over half (52%) utilise generative AI to support their business, gaining the biggest time-saving benefits from using it for content creation (62%), marketing (40%), and business advice (39%).
In parallel, the average amount of capital needed to launch a business has shrunk. In GoDaddy’s latest Small Business Research Lab survey, the majority (53%) of UK entrepreneurs said they’d created a new venture with under £1,000 of initial investment.
Alexandra Rosen, Economist and Head of the GoDaddy Small Business Research Lab, said:
“Entrepreneurship is no longer tied to major city centres. Better digital infrastructure, the rise of AI tools and lower start-up costs have changed the economics of building a business, making it possible for founders to launch and scale from places that may previously have been overlooked. What we are seeing is a more distributed model of growth, where smaller cities and towns are becoming increasingly important parts of the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”