Yorkshire’s Position As One Of The UK’s Leading Commercial Hubs

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What’s contributing to Yorkshire’s seemingly unstoppable commercial success story? Promotional print specialists Banners and Mash uncover all It’s true, Yorkshire was once synonymous with little more than fields, valleys, sheep and stone-built villages. However with more and more money being pumped into the redevelopments and commercial ventures in the region and new waves of businesses making the county their primary business home, Yorkshire has evolved into one of the UK’s leading commerce hubs. Take Leeds for example, Yorkshire’s ‘unofficial’ capital. While the phrase “it’s grim up north” might once have applied, the regeneration of city has transformed Leeds into a new destination, brimming with vibrancy, cosmopolitanism and freshness. Leeds hasn’t been dubbed as the ‘London of the North’ without reason.

The statistics of the city’s rebirth are impressive. It is one of the UK’s fastest growing cities. Outside London, it is the leading centre for both legal and financial services. A former insurance company headquarters located in the centre of the city has been converted into shopping arcades and hotels. The fact that Harvey Nichols chose Leeds to open a store, the brand’s first expansion outside of London, has, as the BBC states: “helped confirm Leeds as one of the top three shopping destinations in the country.” And it’s not just Leeds. Many towns and cities in Yorkshire have enjoyed regeneration in recent years and as a consequence are reaping business and fiscal rewards. In Huddersfield for example, approximately £50 million has been spent on bringing the 200-yearold canal back to life.

The multi-million pound refurbishment of the canal has transformed Huddersfield’s waterside landscape into one of the most sustainable development opportunities in the area. The new development comprises of 18,000 square meters of costeffective office space. The renovation of the Huddersfield Canal was one of the largest projects of its kind in the north of England, having the potential to bring up to 1,000 new jobs in the town. “It’s been a key component in the regeneration of the area,” Alan Stopher, chairman of Huddersfield Canal Society told Yorkshire Life. “There have been – and continue to be – numerous major restorations of mill buildings and the waterfront heritage had gone a long way to make that possible.”

With cost-effective, attractive waterside office and commercial spaces available, Huddersfield, like Leeds, is now much more attractive to startups, SMEs and even established businesses looking to relocate to a commercially-viable and lucrative location. An investment business boost across Yorkshire Further testament of Yorkshire’s contemporary appeal to businesses is the fact earlier this year more than £68 million was invested in SMEs by the regional funding body Finance Yorkshire. Recent figure show that the amount invested equates to 545 investments in SMEs operating throughout Yorkshire. These funds are helping such small and medium sized businesses to develop. They are also creating jobs and are exploiting new markets opportunities such as the ones created with the regeneration of parts of Leeds and Huddersfield.

The positive marketing of Yorkshire In November 2013, the University of Hull conducted a survey amongst its students. The participants were given a list of positive attributes and asked which ones they would associated with the term ‘Yorkshire’ in the brand name of a product. The following attributes scored over 50% in being associated with the ‘Yorkshire’ brand name: Friendly, Welcoming, Honest, Unpretentious, Quality, Good value, Trustworthy and Natural. From banners proudly reminding people that the Grand Depart is coming to Yorkshire this July, to well-designed flags elevated high into the air promoting Leeds University, like urban redevelopments, investment business boosts and colourful, conspicuous and savvy marketing tactics, Yorkshire continues to sail high as one of the UK’s leading commercial hubs.

This blog post was written by Banners and Mash, specialists in providing high impact and cost-effective promotional print for businesses throughout Great Britain.


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