Why is Milton Keynes advantageous for small businesses?

Why is Milton Keynes advantageous for small businesses?

Why is Milton Keynes advantageous for small businesses- Cloudco group

The “new town” of Milton Keynes was designed and built in 1967, primarily to alleviate the housing crisis in London. Built with the future in mind, it has since become a hub of business and innovation, finally earning its well-deserved city status as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in May 2022.

With easy access to the capital and major cities, Milton Keynes is a business and employment hotspot. Home to several global headquarters and a thriving small business community, its local economy is growing faster than the UK average.

If you are a thinking of starting a small business based in Milton Keynes, then congratulations, you are off to an promising start! CloudCo Accountancy Group is based in the heart of the city and we can’t think of a better place outside of the capital to do business.

About Milton Keynes

The Buckinghamshire city of Milton Keynes is currently home to around 230,000 residents and some 14,000 businesses. Much derided over the years as a concrete jungle famous for its 100+ roundabouts, the truth is that it is a dynamic, modern city that continues to evolve.

Businesses based in Milton Keynes

A number of global businesses have UK headquarters in Milton Keynes, such as Mercedes-Benz and Domino’s Pizza. It is also home to Network Rail, WD40, Marshall Amps and Xero UK, the distributer of the world’s leading cloud accounting software.

The city is also the base for the distribution centres of John Lewis and River Island, and there are some 240 shops, restaurants and cafes in the bustling city centre.

Leisure in Milton Keynes

With a capacity of 65,000, the open-air National Bowl is perhaps Milton Keynes’ most famous leisure venue, having played host to Queen and David Bowie.

The Xscape centre offers a great range of leisure activities including a casino, trampoline park, cinema and Snozone, the largest indoor skiing facility in Europe.

Plentiful green spaces

Although parks may not immediately spring to mind when thinking of Milton Keynes, the area is made up of 40% green space, so you are never more than a mile away from one wherever you are in the city.

Tourism

Milton Keynes’ most iconic tourist landmark is Bletchley Park, the once secret base of World War Two codebreakers, now visited by a quarter of a million tourists each year.

Why central Milton Keynes is a great place for small businesses

So why is Milton Keynes such a popular location for small businesses and start ups? The city offers so many opportunities to new businesses, including easy access to the capital, a high rate of employment and a fast growing economy.

Great transport links

Milton Keynes offers its residents easy access to the biggest financial centres in the South East, being equidistant from London, Oxford and Cambridge. In addition, there are major motorways nearby offering a convenient route to Birmingham and the East Midlands.

It is also an ideal base for international travel, with London Luton just a half an hour drive away and London Heathrow and London Stansted airports little more than an hour.

A younger, growing population

Statistics suggest that over 300,000 residents will call Milton Keynes home by 2026, which would make it the highest growing UK city by population.

The city also has a higher proportion of younger people compared to the rest of the country, attracted by its superb employment rate and the educational opportunities found at Milton Keynes college and nearby Cranfield University.

Job creation and talent pool

As the home of big corporations, thousands of small businesses and plentiful, affordable office space, it’s easy to see why Milton Keynes has a reputation as a leading employer. The city currently enjoys a higher than national average employment rate of 80%.

Milton Keynes also boasts a highly skilled workforce with 44% of employees qualified to NVQ4 or above.

A hub of innovation and technology

Thanks to its superb infrastructure, overseas investment and skilled workforce, Milton Keynes is a hotspot for tech businesses, forming part of the Oxford Cambridge Arc (known as the UK’s Silicon Valley), a vital economic driver for the country

The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Milton Keynes, with a recent study naming it as the 12th most innovative city in the UK, based on factors such as number of start ups – a staggering 74 per 10,000 people.

One of the UK’s fastest growing economies

If you are not yet convinced about Milton Keynes as a top location for a small business, consider this – it is expected to be one of the UK’s fastest growing economies by 2023, with growth of £600m.

Thanks to its thriving tech community, the city has attracted significant foreign investment in recent years, with UK Powerhouse reporting a growth in GVA of 8.5% in 2021 – the highest of any regional city in the UK. Its success is expected to continue with a growth of 2.6% by the end of 2023, once again leading the way.

Whilst Milton Keynes was not immune to the struggles of the pandemic, the local economy has recovered well, growing by 7.4% in 2021, more than the UK average. This is in part due to the large service industry in the city, and the support of Milton Keynes Council’s £3million Economic Recovery Plan that has so far helped more than 900 businesses.

Thinking of starting a business in Milton Keynes? CloudCo Accountancy Group can help

If you are seeking an accountant in Milton Keynes to help you master your finances and achieve business growth, then we are the local experts.

CloudCo Accountancy Group provides many start ups and local businesses in Milton Keynes with a full range of accounting services, allowing them to settle and thrive in our vibrant business community.

For details of our services, please contact us and receive a FREE quotation.