Location Spotlight: Bristol

An innovative city with its eye on the future. This could be the ideal location for your start-up.

The Neighbourhood

Bristol is known as a forward-thinking city that supports innovative ways of doing things. The city also has the reputation of being extremely friendly.

It was voted the best place to live in the UK in 2017, and many of the residents and local business owners will fiercely defend this award.

As a city that is known for the arts and its electronics and aerospace industries, it is the only big city in the country that has a higher per capita wealth than Britain as a whole.

The thing that might make Bristol stand out for a lot of people is the support and planning that they have for small, independent businesses. The Bristol Pound was even introduced to keep money in the city and encourage growth and development.

The Trends

Bristol was voted the number one Smart City in the UK according to the Smart City Index of 2017.

The rankings were done according to the city’s access to data, the innovation that appeared in the city’s energy, as well as engagement that they had within the community.

The city managed to overtake London in the rankings and much of this was due to the ‘Bristol is Open’ initiative that was rolled out in the city. This focused on making Bristol a smart city that was preparing itself for the future.

These preparations were improving the city’s communication infrastructure and addressing challenges that came with a rapidly urbanising population.

Bristol has become an important digital hub for the country. In March 2018 Bristol’s Millennium Square became the first space to offer 5G services to the general public. 

The city has also been hailed as the best city to start a business. This is down to the low office cost, proximity to London, and the broadband speed of the city. 

Business Spotlight: Reach Robotics

With the focus on the city’s technology and its favourable conditions for start-ups, it’s no surprise that Reach Robotics, a robotics and gaming company, set up shop in Bristol.

The city tends to have a highly skilled work-force that is drawn from the university and this is where most of the Reach Robotics team studied. They stayed in Bristol because of the environment of innovation that exists in the city.

The product that the company has created is called Mekamon and it is, they say, the next generation of gaming as it fuses robotics, augmented reality and gaming together.

This is the company’s first product and there is a lot of attention on it with Apple exclusively selling the product. 

Sector Spotlight: Green Business

Bristol has impressive technological advancements; however, another notable feature of Bristol is how they are pushing towards sustainable practices.

There are several government-run eco-projects that are working to make the city greener and the businesses in the city are following suit. 

Bristol energy is a national energy firm that is coming up with innovative ways to provide a more sustainable and community friendly gas and electricity supply. Bristol also became the first city in the UK to have a bus run solely on biomaterials.

Private businesses that have greener policies thrive in Bristol as the entire community works to develop and support any sustainable practices. The Bristol Pound is used more and more in the city to encourage local business and local spending.

Is this area for you?

Bristol is the ideal city for start-ups. The office space is cheaper than in London and there is amazing infrastructure. There is also a very educated work-force to recruit from.

Start-ups are not the only businesses that should be attracted to the city, companies that are focused on green practices and sustainability will also find this an ideal location.

On the whole, Bristol is focusing on making itself an attractive prospect to new business, especially independent businesses, and so this city is becoming an increasingly attractive option for many people.



Anthea Taylor

About the author

Anthea Taylor is Content Producer at Dynamis and writes for all titles in the Dynamis stable including BusinessesForSale.com, FranchiseSales.com and PropertySales.com as well as other industry publications.

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