YORK has been named the second best city in the UK for independent businesses.

New index data reveals that there has been a huge growth in small businesses across the UK over the past five years.

Business experts at Bionic have created an index, using nine different business metrics to reveal which UK city has the strongest independent economy where small businesses can thrive.

York ranks in second place with a score of 70 out of 100 in its index of the best cities for independents, proving to be a great place to start a business.

The data showed that York had 505 active businesses per 10,000 population and the highest level of people commuting by walking of all the UK cities, analysed at 17.68 per cent.

York is also among the UK cities with the cheapest value for office floor space. Renting a business space in York costs hopeful business owners an average of £98 per m2 - appealing for start-ups when money can be a key factor.

Across the UK the rise in small businesses has increased and York took the top spot with the highest growth in new business within the past five years, with a 47.7 per cent survival rate.

Reading and Bournemouth rank just behind York with the biggest growth in the past five years - with survival rates of 46.1 per cent and 45.7 per cent, respectively.

Across the UK, more than 800,000 new business registrations have been made since 2018/19 - but this 3.5 per cent increase in growth slowed down due to the pandemic and lockdowns which began at the start of 2020.

Bionic's index looks at the 50 largest cities in the UK where data was available.

The metrics analysed included business start-ups per 10,000 population in 2019; the five-year survival rate; the births of new businesses as a proportion of total active businesses; and deaths on new business as a proportion of total active businesses.

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