Glasgow is Scotland’s top city to start a business in 2023, according to new research.
Factors including quality of life, the rate of new businesses opened, internet quality, local education and transport services were analysed in the study, which ranks 34 UK cities.
Compiled by Manchester-based digital agency Dark Horse, the table puts Glasgow fifth overall in the UK for starting a business, behind Manchester, London, Sheffield and Birmingham.
In Scotland, Glasgow is 17 places ahead of the next Scottish city in the ranking, Dundee, in 22nd place, and 19 places ahead of Edinburgh, which ranks 24th on the list. Aberdeen also ranks 34th in the table.
The list is based on data from sources including the Office for National Statistics, which publishes official statistics on the UK’s economy, population and society; cost-of-living database Numbeo and the Department for Transport.
James Maxfield, a data expert at Dark Horse, said businesses no longer had to head south to be successful.
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“That’s just not the case anymore,” he said. “Investment in infrastructure, talent acquisition, culture and the digital age has made it possible to set up a business pretty much anywhere in the UK.”
Dark Horse said Companies House data showed that a record 202,130 new businesses were set up in the UK in the first 12 weeks of 2023, representing a year-on-year rise of 6.5%.
Businesses were facing challenges, but these were seemingly “not preventing UK entrepreneurs across the country from setting up their own enterprises,” the agency said.
Data analysed for the study included average monthly salary, average cost of rent, qualification levels, start-up survival rate, business closures, average internet speeds and the availability of buses in each city.
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