Cardiff and Bridgend ranked amongst the most entrepreneurial towns and cities in the UK

Cardiff and Bridgend have been ranked as amongst the most entrepreneurial towns and cities in the UK.

Based data from the Office for National Statistics, Superscript said that between 2021 and 2022, the number of small businesses (with up to 49 employees) in Cardiff increased by 430, representing a 3.7% uplift. Meanwhile, Bridgend saw the number of small businesses grow by 245, representing a 6.5% uplift

Cross-referenced with the latest population figures, this gave Cardiff and Bridgend a ‘small business per capita’ score of 0.12 and 0.17 respectively. This is in contrast to the national trend, with the amount of small businesses across the UK decreasing by 83,000.

Cardiff is ranked the sixth most entrepreneurial city in the UK and Bridgend the eighth most entrepreneurial town.

Breakdown of top 10 towns and cities:

Cities	Small business per capita score	Towns	Small business per capita score
Wolverhampton	0.48	Mansfield	0.38
Worcester	0.20	Blackburn w Darwen	0.30
Carlisle	0.19	Luton	0.22
Hull	0.17	Darlington	0.19
Norwich	0.14	Ipswich	0.19
Cardiff	0.12	Stratford-Upon-Avon	0.19
Stoke-on-Trent	0.12	Maidstone	0.19
Sheffield	0.10	Bridgend	0.17
Plymouth	0.10	Maldon	0.13
Southend	0.8	Scarborough	0.11

Cameron Shearer, co-founder and chief executive of Superscript, said: “Congratulations to Cardiff and Bridgend for ranking amongst the most entrepreneurial towns and cities in the UK. The way they have embraced entrepreneurship in the last year is even more impressive against the backdrop of a national decline in small businesses.

“It’s a tough time for entrepreneurs right now, but history teaches us that challenging times are when great businesses and innovations are born, with businesses evolving quickly."

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