Hotspots in the UK for Creativity

Bristol & Bath

The region’s creatives are estimated to be 50% more productive than the UK average with an anticipated annual growth of 20%. Enabled by a developed infrastructure with support from local Government, creative businesses in this region have thrived over recent years. The area is a key centre for TV, film and animation, and associated technology and support services, not to mention the growing agency network in this part of England.

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Birmingham

For England’s second city, the creative sector here is still very much up and coming. Developments in areas such as Digbeth, the Jewellery Quarter and more recently Stirchley, are accelerating this. For the wider ‘Createch’ sector, Birmingham is home to 6,000 tech firms employing 40,000 people with 25% of the UK’s gaming workforce based locally.

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Manchester & Salford

Research from innovation foundation Nesta, last year showed the creative sector of Manchester, from architecture to design, film to digital and everything in between, is growing faster than any UK region outside London. Development such as the high-profile Media City in Salford have supported this, but there are high levels of entrepreneurship supporting the growth of digital technologies.

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Leeds

Back in 2012, industry title ‘The Drum’ was touting Leeds as the new creative hub. Channel 4’s much publicised move to the city certainly accelerated this, enabling the spawning of a plethora of inter-connecting businesses to develop from the boost in infrastructure. From a digital perspective, Leeds has a flourishing digital creative sector, with 20 of the fastest-growing tech companies in the North of England, according to the Northern Tech 100, and 13 of the Prolific North’s Top 50 PR agencies.

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Scotland

As the second fastest growing sector in Scotland after energy, Scotland’s creative industries are estimated to support around £9 billion of activity within the wider Scottish economy, contributing £5.5 billion to Scotland’s GDP. With support from both Central and Local Government, particularly to boost film production capabilities, the anticipation is that the creative sector will continue to be a vital component of the Scottish economy.

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Northern Ireland

Where Northern Ireland was showing some encouraging signs of development in the creative sector, following the global success of Game of Thrones, the industry has gone from strength to strength. The region has a flourishing animation sector, with industry leading companies offering VFX and state-of-the-art technology solutions.