Surprise as Mansfield named best town in the country to start a business

Entrepreneurs in Mansfield have spoken out about running their companies after the town was voted the best place to start business in the UK. A recent study carried out by marketing training hub School of Marketing, which analysed the latest ONS data on the number of new businesses and closing businesses in 2021, found that, for every 10 new business that died in the town in 2021, more than 16 were started.

Mansfield came top of the list in the country for the percentage difference in business births and deaths, with 625 new businesses in the area compared to the 380 that closed in 2021 – a 64.4% difference. The 260 new businesses in the third quarter of 2021 was not only the highest post-pandemic statistic but also the highest since 2017.

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Business owners in the town have been speaking about the recent data – saying they were surprised by the numbers and explaining what it is like to run a business during the cost of living crisis. John Skofulanski, who runs a gaming store in Mansfield called Wargames Emporium, said: “I have seen that there’s been a lot of new shops starting up.

“That being said I am surprised that Mansfield is rated so highly. It’s good to see Mansfield doing better but I think a lot of the start-ups won’t be having a lot of official employees because a lot of places do online orders and might not really have a need for in-store workers. We do a lot of mail orders.

“When we get a new producer or look at a new product, the first thing we ask is ‘is this suitable for mail orders?’ We do more mail orders than in-store combined but we have another store in Sheffield.

“We moved to this location at the end of January – we took a chance because this is a better location than our old store was and we wanted a fresh start after Covid. We’ve been doing but it’s slowed a little recently.

“We had some problems with Brexit, which for gaming shops was really bad. Then we had Covid was also really bad. We started off OK but now things have gone a little flat; I think because of the cost of living crisis which of course is understandable.”

Sue Macpherson, 53, who manages Zulu Boutique in Mansfield’s Four Seasons Shopping Centre, said: “I’m surprised that Mansfield ranks so highly just because you see loads of clothes shops shutting down around here like in every town. Everyone needs to start getting out after Covid – people need to get out and about.

“Things have been brilliant for us. We’ve only been here since Christmas; we have another store at Crystal Peaks near Sheffield but we decided to move to another one because things are going so well. It’s lovely, though; nice to see a bit of positivity instead of doom and gloom all the time.”

Despite Mansfield placing top for businesses in England, Cardiff came out on top for the most new companies set up in the UK in the same timeframe. Cardiff saw a 72 % difference in business birth/death rates in 2021, comfortably placing it 8% higher than any other place on the list.

Commenting on the findings, a spokesperson from School of Marketing said: “With many prospective business owners holding out to begin their companies with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, this list not only shows the best regions to do so but also highlights how in many areas the economy is starting to flourish again. It’s interesting to see the diversity of the regions in the top ten, with Welsh areas, northern regions and London boroughs all performing well for new businesses.”

The study also found that UK-wide business openings were 4% higher than pre-pandemic numbers in 2019 with 386,200 new businesses in 2019 and 401,815 new businesses in 2021. Across the UK, 420,135 businesses closed in 2021, nearly 5% higher than the number of new companies formed in the same year. Check out the top 10 list below.

Region// 2021 business births// 2021 business deaths// Births/deaths % difference// Number of new businesses born, for every 10 that died.

1. Cardiff// 3,460, 2,010// 72.14%// 17.21

2. Mansfield// 625// 380// 64.47%// 16.45

3. Wolverhampton// 1,780// 1,180// 50.85%// 15.08

4. Sandwell// 2,140// 1,460// 46.58%// 14.66

5. Ipswich// 925// 635// 45.67%// 14.57

6. Hull// 1,345// 925// 45.41%// 14.54

7. Broxtowe// 580// 410// 41.46%// 14.15

8. Darlington// 590// 425// 38.82%// 13.88

9. Bridgend// 870// 630// 38.10%// 13.81

10. Newham// 3,570// 2,625// 36%// 13.60