Startups Head To The Suburbs

New British technology businesses can be found in suburbs across the country. Nicole Kobie reveals why innovation isn’t locked into London.

The future of tech in the UK is suburban. Tech City, aka London, still reigns supreme, followed by Manchester and Edinburgh, but some of the fastest growth in tech companies is to be found in smaller towns, commuter belts and the suburbs.

The latest figures from this year’s report by Tech Nation (pcpro. link/287nation) reveal that 16 “silicon suburbs” and “tech towns” – tech industry cheerleaders are big on alliteration – have a higher proportion of technology-related employment than the UK average, including Newbury, Southend and Swindon. That makes them a “fertile breeding ground for the next generation of tech startups”, the report notes.

Of course, London is still the centre of British tech, but a wider spread of companies across the country, the rise of co-working spaces, and support from universities means more tech ideas are finding their feet not in Shoreditch but in Slough.

Slough over Shoreditch 

There are plenty of reasons for tech to expand into the suburbs. First, there’s the rising cost of running a business in east London. Rent has skyrocketed: residential property in Hackney has seen the fastest growth in rent over the past decade across Britain, according to Right move, while commercial property rents climbed by 181% in Shoreditch from 2010 to 2015, according to Ernst & Young. That makes it a lot harder to found a company without going broke first, with pressure from higher costs for office space and the need to pay staff a living wage. Co-working spaces and incubators help, but the former are often expensive, while the latter requires applications and approval before you’ll get your free desk and mentorships.