The UK’s most entrepreneurial cities: Scottish, northern, and midlands cities dominate
Aberdeen, Coventry, and Liverpool have emerged as the UK’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial hubs outside London, as regional challengers put pressure on the capital’s dominance.
The GoDaddy Small Business Research Lab, a multi-year research initiative which analyses over 680,000 British small businesses that typically employ fewer than 10 people, measures the concentration of small businesses against local population sizes to award each a microbusiness density score. The cities with the highest year-over-year growth in microbusiness density have been crowned GoDaddy’s 2025 Most Entrepreneurial Cities in the UK.
Top 10 cities for microbusiness growth and their year-over-year change in microbusiness density score
- London 6.62%
- Aberdeen 5.93%
- Coventry 5.55%
- Liverpool 5.43%
- Manchester 5.09%
- Edinburgh 4.97%
- Brighton 4.68%
- Glasgow 4.44%
- Newcastle 3.96%
- Nottingham 3.89%
Entrepreneurs thrive outside of London
Although London is the fastest-growing city for small business formation (increasing 6.62%), entrepreneurialism is also surging outside of the capital. Eight out of the top 10 fastest-growing cities are located across the Midlands, the North, and Scotland.
Three Scottish cities – Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen – populated the top 10 for microbusiness growth, reflecting a notable shift in the UK’s entrepreneurial landscape. Other strong performers include Manchester (5.09%) and Newcastle (3.96%).
Local support fuels success
With over one in five (22%) UK small business owners citing funding and access to capital as one of their biggest challenges, each of the top five cities offers council-run grants or support schemes to make it easier for entrepreneurs to start and scale.
Aberdeen, for example, benefits from a dedicated Business Start-Up Grant Scheme from Aberdeen City Council, offering grants of up to £3,000 to startups. Similarly, Coventry City Council offers start-up grants up to £7,500 to help local entrepreneurs get off the ground.
Small businesses, big local impact
In partnership with Frontier Economics, GoDaddy found that small businesses make a significant contribution to local economies. Each additional digital microbusiness is associated with the creation of up to five local jobs, potentially equating to over three million jobs across the UK’s top 25 most entrepreneurial cities. GoDaddy’s research also shows that a 10% rise in microbusiness density correlates with a £320 increase in median annual pay for full-time workers in a region.
Roy Van Vessem, founder and owner of Aberdeen-based outdoor living space business Écosse Garden Rooms, commented: “I moved from the Netherlands to Scotland ten years ago and decided to set up my business, Ecosse Garden Rooms, as I had twenty years' experience back home building outdoor living spaces. What started as a three-person business has now grown to eight employees, and I plan to continue growing the business by hiring more back-office staff in 2026. Customers in the local Aberdeen area appreciate the expertise and tend to trust local businesses such as mine. This is compounded with the fact that the local environment is really good for startups with the chamber of commerce and the Highlands & Islands Enterprise making it easier to get support. As a foreigner, I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather grow my business.”
Andrew Gradon, Head of GoDaddy UK and Ireland, commented: “Small businesses continue to flourish across the UK, as regional cities punch above their weight against the nation’s capital. Whilst London unsurprisingly takes the crown, the breadth of cities north of London in the top 10 proves ambition isn’t limited to the South of England.
“Small businesses across the UK play a vital role in unlocking the country’s longer-term potential. By providing new jobs and opportunities to local areas, small businesses act as the backbone of Britain’s economy – and when they thrive, we all thrive.”
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