A new study has revealed that 31,999 new businesses in the trades were founded in 2021, of which 6,281 were based around plumbing, heating and air conditioning. The research, by Yell Business, identified the key areas to start up a business.
Using data acquired from Companies House, the research helps to show that despite another challenging year, the entrepreneurial spirit of the nation is alive and well, with more businesses founded per month in 2021 than in 2020, or even during pre-pandemic 2019.
Yell’s research revealed where budding entrepreneurs could find the biggest opportunities within the trades. This was achieved by analysing Google search demand for the likes of ‘London builder’ versus the actual number of businesses offering these services in each area.
Demand for Plumbers in Belfast far outweighs supply, with over 31 searches per listed firm. Milton Keynes and Salisbury also showed significantly higher demand than supply for various trades services.
Heating & plumbing
| Business type | Top locations based on searches per listing |
| Plumber | 1. Belfast (31.60)
2. Milton Keynes (27.07) 3. Newcastle upon Tyne (25.57) 4. Nottingham (24.75) 5. Oxford (23.17) |
| Heating engineer | 1. Salisbury (3.33)
2. Kilmarnock (2.93) 3. Canterbury (2.79) 4. Kirkcaldy (2.78) 5. Dorchester (2.73) |
Other trades
| Business type | Top locations based on searches per listing |
| Carpenter | Milton Keynes (27.20)
Peterborough (24.64) Belfast (23.56) |
| Handyman | Belfast (60.25)
Nottingham (39.41) Wakefield (35.56) |
| Plasterer | Salisbury (50.32)
Belfast (48.56) Oxford (42.89) |
| Welder | Belfast (70.42)
Milton Keynes (60.00) Newcastle upon Tyne (48.29) |
Claire Miles, Chief Executive Officer of Yell commented: “With the challenges of the last two years, we might expect to find that fewer people were deciding to take the leap into the world of starting and running their own business. However, the data clearly shows that it has potentially inspired more people to take ownership of what they do for a living and finally make the dream of running their own business come true.
“With the background of the pandemic and numerous economic and supply chain challenges, it’s really encouraging to see that the entrepreneurial spirit of the UK is continuing to grow year on year. We look forward to working with some of these new business owners in the Trades sector in 2022, to help make their venture a success.”
Finally, the findings highlighted which areas of the UK had seen the highest number of businesses launched per capita, and somewhat surprisingly the Welsh coastal town of Llandudno ranked as the most entrepreneurial location, showing that big business doesn’t just start in the city.
Further breakdowns of these findings can be found here
