Mapped: These are the UK’s best places to launch a startup
With startup rates hitting record highs, the UK is fast becoming a nation of fledgling businesses and ambitious entrepreneurs.
In 2014 a record-breaking 581,173 startups began trading in the UK, but how many have survived their fledgling years of operation?
Where a startup chooses to start its life could play a key role in its success, according to research from Vonage, which has mapped out the cities with the highest rate of startup survival.
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The map (scroll down) charts the survival rate of startups since January 2014, but for those looking to launch their own business soon, the study also looks at broadband speed, the graduate pool in the local area and property prices in each region.
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Winchester is the UK's number one hotspot when it comes to the best cities for start-up survival. Meanwhile, the Welsh capital Cardiff is revealed to be the UK's least promising city to launch a new business venture.
A spokesperson for Vonage said: "In close proximity to London, in the heart of the comparatively prosperous South with access to the nearby graduate pools of Oxford and Cambridge, Winchester is well placed for startups keen to stay connected, but also keen to avoid the sky high rents and costs of living found in London."
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Perhaps not surprisingly, London is a tough place to make it as an entrepreneur. The capital was one of the 10 worst cities to launch a startup – but aspiring business-owners still have plenty of boroughs to choose from if they want to strike out on their own.
Canada is the safest place to start a business, with 76 per cent of startups surviving the two year period. Meanwhile, Londoners are being advised to avoid Islington, where the majority of new businesses which opened in 2014 have folded.