There’s no doubt that the UK capital is an exciting place to live and work now, with businesses in London launching at a faster rate than anywhere else in the UK (1). Putting the trials of Covid and Brexit firmly in the past, London business start-ups in 2022 were up 2.5% on the previous year, with a record-breaking 275,548 new businesses launched in the city (1).

According to the latest report from the Centre for Entrepreneurs, London stands out as the most entrepreneurial region of the UK, with 30.6 new businesses per 10,000 people – nearly three times the figures of the region with the second highest numbers of start-ups; the West Midlands with 10.8 new businesses per 10,000 people (1).

Part of the reason that businesses are growing and thriving in London comes down to the huge amount of help that is available to those who wish to work for themselves or start a business employing others – the capital has the largest concentration of business incubators (startup support organisations which provide physical space to startups) and accelerators (startup support programmes) of anywhere in the UK (2). In total, 32.7% of available funding goes to businesses in London, making it the perfect destination for entrepreneurs from around the world (3).

London is a vibrant, egalitarian and multi-cultural city with business opportunities open for all. According to The Gender Index3, London has the highest proportion of female-led companies (18.6%) in the UK, while a recent Government report discovered that the capital has the highest proportion of SMEs (4). When it comes to the most successful businesses, a study from Ten Entrepreneurs found that 49% of the UK’s fastest-growing startups have at least one foreign-born co-founder, including Deliveroo, OakNorth, TransferWise and Monzo (5).

A city of more than a million businesses (4), London is the prime location for anyone wanting to start or expand a company in the UK. However, Greater London covers a massive area of 1,569 km2 (606 sq miles) so business people looking to move to the city do need to consider location – both of where they plan to work and where they want to live. Entrepreneurs frequently work long and sometimes anti-social hours, so it’s important to find a home in a location with good public transport.

The London Borough of Ealing, for example has been identified by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) as being the seventh most popular of the 32 London Boroughs for business people, with 19,490 businesses based there (6). It has also recently benefited from the opening of the Elizabeth Line (formerly known as Crossrail). The new line has opened up speedy east to west connections and brought prosperity to new parts of London, including Ealing which saw a 9% surge in house prices after the new high-speed service launched (7).

At Barratt London, we are experts at choosing the right location for new homes, prioritising areas where regeneration is underway or planned – a known catalyst for economic growth – as well as making sure that our sites are well-connected. We have two new schemes planned for this entrepreneurial London Borough – Royal Gateway, a newly approved development of 300 apartments in Acton, and Bollo Lane, a joint venture with Transport for London (TfL) which will see 900 homes close to Chiswick Park and Acton Town stations, half of which will be classed as affordable. The first phase will be to create 195 build-to-rent homes, alongside commercial space for local businesses, giving small companies even more opportunities to grow and thrive.

All across London, our development projects have been carefully chosen for their convenience and great public transport links. This is to ensure that our professional buyers can easily get around the capital to boost their business productivity, as well as having convenient public transport for school and leisure. 

For example, the planned new West London Orbital Overground line will link Hendon to Hounslow, bringing even more convenient travel connections to some of our most popular developments, including Hendon Waterside in the London Borough of Barnet, Hayes Village in LB Hillingdon, Wembley Park Gardens in LB Brent and Eastman Village in LB Harrow.

With its superb transport links, vibrant urban lifestyle, support for business and favourable tax regime, London is very much open for business.

1 https://centreforentrepreneurs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/CFE-2022-Business-Startup-Index-Report.pdf

2 https://centreforentrepreneurs.org/cfe-research/incubation-nation/ 

3 www.businessleader.co.uk/rise-in-number-female-led-companies-uk 

4 https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06152/SN06152.pdf

5 www.tenentrepreneurs.org/immigrantfounders 

6 www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Ealing%20report_IM.pdf

7 www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-12246285/Has-Elizabeth-Line-led-booming-property-prices.html