Redditch emerges as West Midlands' new business capital - study

Redditch in Worcestershire has been crowned the West Midlands' new business capital, according to new research from UK packaging supplier Carrier Bag Shop.

The research compared how many businesses launched across 406 UK locations and regions in the past year compared to before the coronavirus outbreak.

READ MORE: Strong performance revealed at Redditch manufacturing business

It analysed quarterly reports from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on new business enterprises opened between Q3, 2017 and Q2, 2024.

For the West Midlands, between mid-2017 until mid-2018, 290 new businesses were registered in Redditch but this grew to 380 (an increase of 31.03%) between mid-2023 until mid-2024.

In total, the West Midlands region saw 26,550 new businesses set up last year, a 1.03% decrease from 26,825 two years before the COVID-19 lockdown.

Across the UK as a whole, the decrease was minus 8.21% - from 344,365 businesses set up between July 2017 until June 2018 falling to 316,095 in July 2023 to June 2024.

Sujan Shah, CEO of Carrier Bag Shop, said that comparing the statistics from two years on either side of the pandemic offered the firm a "unique perspective into the areas that have since flourished as great places to set up a business".

"In the first year after our lockdown started, we saw a 7.86% increase across the UK in new businesses being set up," he said.

"Increased use of remote working, a turbulent job market, and the economic and emotional impact of Covid-19 may have spurred the leap towards entrepreneurship.

"After this momentum slowed down for almost another year, it makes mid-2022 until mid-2023 look as if setting up new ventures reduced sharply by 15.72%," he added.

"In fact, entrepreneurship was simply more accelerated during the more intense lockdown periods. It seemed like the stricter the lockdown, the more entrepreneurial it made us," he suggested.

Walsall ranked second in the West Midlands region for startup increases with 26.70% more startups last year (1,305) compared to six years before (1,030).

In the South East of England, the top rated place for highest growth in new businesses was Thanet with 30% more businesses being opened between the two time frames.