Digital start-ups and expansion among established retail companies are credited as the driving force behind Brighton and Hove’s recovery. Now a new survey has placed the south coast city among the UK’s top ten locations that provide the best environment for business ventures to survive and flourish.
The East Sussex city was ranked seventh nationally, trailing behind Northampton, Aberdeen and Bristol but outperforming York, Sutton and Oxford in a comprehensive report compiled by the information services company Experian.
Four out of ten Brighton businesses which contributed to Experian’s annual survey claimed that sales grew last year by at least 10 per cent. When it came to business survival, the city scored above average with an insolvency rate of just one collapse per 140 firms.
The trend, claim the city’s real estate agents, has undoubtedly shifted from recovery to a boom. Oakley Commercial has acted as agent for St Modwen’s Woodingdean Business Park throughout its eight-year development. “Along with the industrial lettings we’ve seen an increase in office lettings and, since the New Year, we have completed deals with MiHomecare Ltd, Lighthouse Group and System Software,” explained Oakley’s Steven Harvey.
New occupiers on the 12-acre park, just outside the city centre, include businesses as diverse as acupuncture specialists and car parts suppliers. And in what was one of Brighton’s biggest ever design and build projects, Reflex Nutrition commissioned a second building adjacent to its existing 35,000sq ft headquarters on the site.
Fuelled by talent from Brighton and Hove’s two universities, creative and high-tech start-ups are also providing key momentum. During 2013 Experian reported there were 5,123 business launches in the city, with just 1,692 closures; a failure rate of around one in ten. Brighton was, however, slightly behind its rivals when it came to the number of expanding businesses, especially those claiming sales growing by 10 per cent or more.
But it’s the retail sector — spanning both new and established businesses — which is showing the strongest performance. “Having started the year with the sale of Longley Industrial Estate for Tesco we then sold several former branches for NatWest bank in Brighton, Hove, Newhaven and St Leonards,” explained Max Pollock, of Carr and Priddle. He has also seen increased letting activity in the North Laine shopping district this spring, where premiums reached £50,000 for some retail leases.
At Cluttons, retail expert Colin Brades said his firm was “experiencing greater numbers of requirements from the retail industry including multiples, regional and local players”. In the Western Road area there are several national operators queuing for sites to become available, he explained. “It is also good to see that major landlords such as Standard Life at Churchill Square, Centurion in Brighton Square, Cathedral Group in Circus Street and others are appreciating the need to create the ideal environments and space required by today’s forward thinking leisure and retail operators,” Brades added.
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