FSB: Numerous reasons for London business closures

News Article - 23 May 2012
Category:

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has said that there are a number of reasons why London has the highest rate of business closures of any area in the UK.

Nick Winch, London policy manager for the FSB, said that the city makes a number of things "difficult for itself" when it comes to running a business in the capital.

"Housing, transport [and] premises costs are all high. The cost of labour is also high compared to other parts of the country. There is a shortage of affordable commercial premises," Mr Winch said.

He added that "access to finance is not easy", suggesting that the credit crunch will make this more difficult, something that could make accounting software even more useful and important for small firms.

Research released last month by Barclays showed that over the past 20 years, an average of 393,000 businesses have started up each year, some 12 start-ups for every 1,000 members of the UK workforce.

Article keywords:

---

More industry news

• Think tank warns UK may have already slipped back into recession
• Growing demand for HR staff in technology and international sectors
• Boosting business growth a ‘priority’ to avoid Eurozone slowdown
• HMRC launches alternative disputes pilot scheme this week
• December employment statistics disregard gloomy recruitment predictions
• Eurozone manufacturing PMI shows modest improvement
• UK scores highly for economic governance by ratings agency
• Government launches two-year project focusing on manufacturing sector
• Burden of regulation on UK businesses ‘too high’

Back to news home page »