Business directors moving 'up north'

Date: 3rd October 2008

More and more small business managers and owners are opting to move out of London and the south-east.

That's the verdict of a recently conducted survey by KDB, which revealed that the two regions saw the biggest drop in number of company directors.

While the capital still has the highest density of business directors in the country, regions such as the north-east, north-west and Midlands all saw substantial increases.

Chief analyst at KDB, Matthew Boot, said: "The density of company directors in each locality provides us with an effective proxy and map of entrepreneurial and wealth-creating Britain."

The trend was also observed in some the UK's larger cities, with Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester all showing growth.

One reason that has been suggested for this is that new communications technology allows managers and directors to run their businesses from practically any location.

Small business managers have until October 31st to submit their paper self-assessment tax return to HM Revenue and Customs, of January 31st if filing online.