10 Reason to Invest in Nottingham

1.    Transport Links and Accessibility 

Nottingham is perfectly located in the heart of the country and has fantastic links to both the motorway and rail network with trains to London St Pancras in as little as 90 minutes. Not to mention the investment that has gone into Nottingham’s infrastructure welcoming an award-winning tram system helping staff access the workplace with ease.  

The city is also within a 4-hour drive of 89% of the UK which is strategically important for businesses looking to access the market on a national scale.  

Offering daily flights to major European hubs is East Midlands Airport, the UK’s busiest pure cargo airport and hub for DHL and UPS.  

2.    Nottingham - A Hotspot for Tech Growth 

A city thriving in the tech sector, a large tech talent pool and a strong tech ecosystem makes Nottingham a real hub for the creative and digital sector, with particular strengths in Fintech, MedTech and software design.  

The Lace Market area of the city is the home of all things tech and offers a range of services from co-working hubs and unique business spaces to independent restaurants and retailers. Nottingham has a strong tech community and there are numerous tech events and meet ups across the city on a regular basis! 

Companies looking to engage with our two universities can access a significant talent pool of creative and digital students and can collaborate with their research and development centres of excellence. 

3.    Access to Talent 

With not one but two award winning universities, Nottingham is a highly skilled city and is home to over 75,000 students a year giving your business the ability to attract some serious talent.  

When looking wider at our recruitment catchment, the news is even better, with 6 universities nurturing over 165,000 students – 84,000 of whom are studying STEM subjects. 

All of this means that graduate numbers are strong for Nottingham, with businesses able to access over 55,000 graduates each year from within a 45-minute journey of the city centre. 

4.    Exciting Key Developments  

Nottingham is currently embarking on an intense period of economic regeneration, with a £4bn regeneration programme across Broad Marsh and Island Quarter sites. Together the sixty-acre developments will deliver 7,000 homes, 15,000 jobs and 2 million sq ft of office and commercial space – making this Europe’s biggest city regeneration programme. 

Its clear that Nottingham is a city on the move and with prime headline rent for Grade A office space at £24.50 per sq ft it makes the city a prime destination to invest 

Further afield, there are great investment options in the county of Nottinghamshire. The recently decommissioned power stations at Ratcliffe on Soar, West Burton & Cottam offer investment opportunities in energy innovation, low carbon energy production and ground breaking STEP fusion energy.  

You can view our current key sites in on our Investment Opportunities page here.

5.   Home of Disruptive Thinkers 

We like to think our creative and independent spirit comes from the many disruptive thinkers that once called Nottingham home, from the legendary tales of Robin Hood to one of the most influential writers of the 20th century – D.H Lawrence.  

Nottingham has always been a city that has a desire to drive change, did you  know that there have been many breakthrough discoveries here such as the MRI Scanner, Ibuprofen, HP Sauce and the invention of a machine that helped kick off the industrial revolution! 

Fast forward many years, Nottingham is now proudly home to major brands such as Games Workshop, Ideagen, Experian, Boots, Capital One, Raleigh, TDX and UNiDAYS 

6.    Quality of Life 

Not only is Nottingham a great place to invest or relocate your business, our quality of life is second to none and you can enjoy city life at a fraction of the cost you would pay in London – making it very attractive for young professionals.  

Savings stretch further in Nottingham, meaning you can really make the most of our forever- growing food and drink scene, famous music venues, independent shops and world-class sporting events. 

Putting the fun a side and looking at the important bits, house prices in Nottingham are significantly lower than the UK average at £200,000 whilst average rental for a one bedroom  property is just £681pcm – ranking Nottingham as one of the best places to call home in the UK.  

7.    Culture & Sport  

Nottingham is a culturally rich city with Robin Hood’s famous Sherwood Forest a short drive away, the Peak District on our doorstep and plenty of festivals and activities to get involved in all year round. It's the Greenest UK City, a UNESCO City of Literature and a top 10 UK retail destination.

We’re a city with a strong sporting heritage, home of the world’s oldest professional football league club in Notts County, and Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest. We also host many other elite level sports. Nottingham Panthers are one of the most successful Ice Hockey clubs in the UK, whilst the National Watersports Centre and the iconic Trent Bridge Test cricket ground are both located within our city. We are Visit England’s official ‘Home of Sport’ and have more Champions League trophies than Paris, Rome, Berlin & Moscow combined! 

8.    A Cost-Effective Location 

Nottingham offers a high-quality, cost-effective solution for businesses, with competitive salary levels for our talent and great places to locate your company for a fraction of the cost of London sites. 

Current prime rental for Grade A office space in the city centre is £24,50 per sq ft and headline rents for industrial spaces currently sits at £8.50 per sq ft, so you can definitely find a high-quality solution for a fair price. 

9.    A Strong Business Ecosystem 

Is your business just starting out or are you looking to expand and grow?  

Whatever your needs are, Nottingham has the right space for you in our variety of co-working spaces and tech hubs across the city and beyond.  

Scale Space offers co-working space as well as introduction to a network of investors through one of the UK’s leading digital venture builders, Blenheim Chalcot.  

Home to over 300 creative businesses, Antenna’s mission is to support Nottingham’s thriving creative and entertainment industries. From start-ups to international award-winning videogame developers, all kinds of creative businesses have chosen to make Antenna their home. 

BioCity Nottingham is one of the UK’s largest bio-incubator facilities supports many businesses on the leading edge in life sciences. BioCity offers onsite support for businesses, with partners from legal firms to patenting experts.  

MediCity is a joint venture with BioCity and Boots, it is a business incubator and offers the ideal environment for start-ups and established companies to develop, grow and even benefit from Boots expertise in the global healthcare sector.  

10.    Our Own Nottinghamshire Language, Mi Duck!

Finally, we have our own distinct Nottingham dialect. Why don’t you see how many of the below phrases you can fathom? 

Gerra moovonn 
Gerritt dahnya 
Its a bit black ovver Bill’s mother’s 
Aya masht midduk? 
Yo mukki bogga! 

If you are completely baffled or perhaps entertained by our strange phrases and are intrigued to find out more, then please go ahead and read our “Beginner’s Guide to Nottingham Dialect”.