Leicester ranked best city for new millennial businesses

New ranking by instantprint places Leicester number one for millennial start-ups.

Leicester has topped the rankings for the best city in the UK to start a new business if you’re a millennial, according to new research from online business print providers, instantprint. 

The new ranking analysed the cost of living in the 20 biggest UK cities, along with average age, number of start-ups per 1,000 people, office prices, train reliability, recycling rates, superfast broadband availability, and the average price of a cup of coffee to produce the top 10. 

All factors were selected based on research into what is important to the millennial generation and the challenges they may face in starting a business. 

The data revealed that there are great opportunities for millennial start-up companies all around the country,with only two of the top 10 cities located in the south of England. 

The top 10 cities are: 

  1. Leicester 
  2. Derby 
  3. Belfast 
  4. Nottingham 
  5. Portsmouth 
  6. Southampton 
  7. Hull 
  8. Coventry 
  9. Cardiff  
  10. Edinburgh 

Rajinder Bhuhi, Business Manager of the Leicester Innovation Hub said: “We’re delighted to see Leicester recognised as the top choice for starting a business as a millennial.

“Through the Innovation Hub at the University, we work with hundreds of aspiring entreprenurs and our Start-Up Accelerator provides students and graduates access to funding, expert training and mentoring, networking and workspace to get started. There are many opportunities for companies to find out how we can help, such as one of our upcoming Business Start-up Cafes or Free Cake Fridays.

“We’re also working with entrepreneurs, another local university, the City Council and the Leicester and Leicestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, through the Start-up Leicester Co-working Project, to nurture even more start-up and co-working in Leicester. The initiative is bringing together a community of existing and aspiring start-ups helping each other to succeed and enabling Leicester to reach its potential as a globally significant start-up city. Entrepreneurs can already receive information on a variety of exciting upcoming events and opportunities by subscribing to a city wide weekly Start-up Digest.

James Kinsella, CEO and Co-Founder of instantprint said: “As a millennial start-up company ourselves, we understand how daunting deciding where to set up your business can be – especially if you haven’t had much time in the workplace to build up capital resources and a great network of potential contacts. 

“At instantprint, we cater for small start-up businesses and wanted to help our current and future client base by providing this research, highlighting great opportunities for their companies. It’s great to see that some of the less well-known cities in the UK are offering great opportunities for small businesses. Leicester is a great place to set up your business and this is reflected in the activity in the city, which includes an annual business festival that gets 10,000 attendees.

More information about the rankings is available here