Rural towns new 'creative hubs'

St Ives scores highly on the creativity index

Small rural towns are becoming hot spots for creative business development, according to new research.

Analysts at Morel Research surveyed the 641 parliamentary constituencies across mainland UK for a "creativity index".

The league table predicts where the popular business centres of the future will be.

It found towns like St Ives in Cornwall and Torridge in Devon are a growing threat to traditional hubs like Exeter, Guildford and even London.

Unique locations

Researchers used 12 factors to determine the level of "workplace creativity" in towns and cities for the table.

They included the attractiveness of the surrounding environment, residents' socio-economic status and the number of new businesses registered in an area.

They compiled the league table using data from 15 sources including the Office of National Statistics and a survey of 200 businesses.

Young people are moving out of cities Matthew Owen, Morel Research

Rural towns with unique shops and cafes and beautiful scenery nearby scored highly, whereas some city centres were criticised for being too "bland".

The North East scored worst as a whole, while the South East and South West scored highest.

Matthew Owen, who led the research said: "Rural areas are benefiting because young people are moving out of cities in search of lower house prices, better quality of life and good schools."

"We've also seen huge changes in communication technology which mean businesses can now start up in small communities even if they are hundreds of miles away from big cities."