Northern cities in the UK rank highest for co-working spaces

Cities in the north of the UK ranked highest for co-working spaces, according to analysis from MoneySuperMarket. High costs put southern cities including London lower down the rankings.

Relocate Editorial

1 March 2018

Many entrepreneurs are starting their businesses from the comfort of their own homes. While this is effective for those starting out, once the first few employees are hired, this approach is no longer feasible.

Co-working spaces in the UK

A common solution is to move into co-working spaces with other, similarly sized companies, as a means to decrease the cost of office space.MoneySuperMarket analysed 18 cities across the UK against key factors such as the cost per workstation, business insurance and the number of office spaces available to see which cities are deemed the most desirable places to co-work.

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Northern cities offer affordable spaces

The research found Edinburgh to be the best city for co-working spaces, due to its excellent co-working pricing, local broadband speeds and a low number of insurance claims. Brighton and Hove, on the other hand ranked last, due to the limited and costly desk space.The highest ranked cities are:

Edinburgh – Surpassing the UK’s capital in terms of its co-working capacity, Edinburgh also fared excellently on co-working prices, local broadband speed, and a low number of business insurance claims
Leeds – With low prices on workspaces and among the lowest volumes of business insurance claims, Leeds only faltered slightly when it came to availability of spaces compared with other UK cities
Bristol – A growing business centre for those looking for opportunities outside of London, Bristol surprisingly had below average numbers of co-working spaces but made up for this with its low costs and high broadband speeds
Northampton – As well as a low number of insurance claims and near chart-topping broadband speeds, Northampton has access to the SEMLEP Growth Hub, which offers advice and an extended reach in seeking out worthwhile finance options.
Nottingham – Nottingham offers one of the lowest average costs for co-working spaces in the country. The Creative Quarter also makes being a young business in this area even more attractive, offering grants and funding for tech and life science businesses, including a loan between £500 and £25,000 at a 6% interest rate over five years to start-ups in the area.

London’s rank hit by affordability

Despite the highest total number of co-working spaces and decent availability, even when high competition for space is factored in, London’s exorbitant workstation prices and high costs on business insurance policies drove it to 16th position out of the 18 cities analysed. The capital beat only Newcastle, where a lack of spaces and indicators of an unfriendly start-up environment lowered local opportunities.However, new business owners should still bear in mind that the capital has the country's greatest access to a wide range of finance, from funds to loans to angel investments and venture capital, meaning financial opportunities might still outweigh the draw back the study found in co-working here.Rose Howarth, head of business insurance at MoneySuperMarket, commented, “MoneySuperMarket have explored the many challenges that new businesses face when setting out, and one of the most crucial of those is choosing the right environment for their business both in terms of office space and geographical location.“With the claimed benefits of co-working, understanding where in the UK is best for businesses to set out using these workspaces allows us to understand the market and how to best help them find their business insurance better.”

See the full study on the MoneySuperMarket website here.

Read more about UK business in the Winter issue of our magazine.

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