As the UK economy continued to recover from the downturn experienced in 2008–10, Manchester compared favourably to other areas. It achieved the strongest annual growth in business stock (of 5%) of all the
Core Cities. The city experienced a relatively sharp increase in the number of business deaths, the largest increase of all the Core Cities; however this was offset by strong growth in new businesses which resulted in a strong net growth.
Headquarters Manchester is a major headquarters location, with a growing number of global, European and national headquarter offices. International property experts
Cushman & Wakefield have ranked Manchester as the best city to locate a new headquarters operation largely down to ease of access to a pool of knowledge and global connectivity. Companies with global headquarters in Manchester include
Umbro,
PZ Cussons, and
The Co-Operative Group. Manchester is also the European headquarters for companies like
Brother and
UAE firm
Etihad Airways.
Kellogg's,
Adidas,
Siemens and
Totesport are amongst hundreds of firms with national headquarters in Manchester.
Well Pharmacy is based in Central Manchester and the largest
pharmaceutical company based in the North of England. Manchester's ability to host major headquarter offices has been recently proven by the action taken by the
BBC to move significant parts of its operation to
MediaCityUK on the banks of the
Manchester Ship Canal in
Salford and
Trafford, by the growth of shared service centres for
Sainsbury's,
Marks & Spencer and the
Royal Bank of Scotland, and by the presence foreign language back-office teams serving more than 20 different markets.
Manchester Airport is home to the World Freight Terminal, the fifth busiest in the UK behind
Heathrow,
East Midlands Airport,
Gatwick and
Stansted, where cargo Airlines such as
Cathay Pacific Cargo,
China Airlines Cargo,
Lufthansa Cargo and
FedEx Express serve global destinations from Manchester. Following the decision by Beijing Engineering Construction Group to invest in Manchester's
Airport City, freight and distribution firm
DHL has agreed to relocate major operations to the site.
Trafford Park, is the world's first planned
industrial estate, and remains the largest in Europe. The site is also home to Trafford Park EuroTerminal, a rail freight terminal and a large container depot. Future enhancements of the site are entailed in the proposed £50 billion
Atlantic Gateway, which could be one of the most expensive and expansive development projects in UK history. It would involve the creation of
Port Salford, an inland freight terminal accessible to the
Irish Sea via the
Manchester Ship Canal.
Banking, finance and insurance The Manchester city region accounts for 7% of all financial services output and 10% of all employment in the UK, and over 60 banks have operations in Manchester, 40 of which are overseas-owned, making it the largest regional corporate finance and stockbroking centre in England. In 2011, Manchester's financial and insurance sector was worth £3.22 billion, the 3rd largest in the United Kingdom after London and
Edinburgh. The city also had the sixth-largest number of employees employed in the financial and insurance sector in the United Kingdom, with more than 96,300 people employed in
banking,
finance and
insurance, translating to 31.4% of all employees, the 2nd highest rate of all the
Core Cities after Bristol. Of all the 10 largest financial centres in the UK, only Manchester and Cardiff have maintained financial sector employment levels, whilst other cities sustained heavy job losses in recent years. Some notable operations in the city include the
Royal Bank of Scotland, who employ 7,000 people in Manchester following a rising trend in
nearshoring from London. The
Bank of New York Mellon opened its Manchester headquarters in 2005, and since then has expanded to over 1,100 employees and added a second office in
Spinningfields. The bank describes Manchester as one of its "three global growth centres",
Spinningfields is a large new business district west of Deansgate that will serve as home to several headquarters, squares, and cafes. The first building on the site was the
Royal Bank of Scotland's new headquarters. Some have speculated that Spinningfields is fast becoming the
Canary Wharf of the North, with the
Financial Times noting, "
London has
Canary Wharf and
Paris has
La Défense, Manchester has its own modern financial centre in the form of Spinningfields". As well as
Bank of New York Mellon and the Royal Bank of Scotland, Spinningfields is the location for other banks including
Barclays and
HSBC, and other professional services firms such as
Deloitte. Assets which contribute to the success of Manchester's
Corporate services sector include a pool of 30,000 new graduates each year from the city's universities, and
Manchester Business School, which has a strong international reputation with global 1st-place rankings in some categories. The city also benefits with links to world leading financial centres, with direct flights to
New York City,
Frankfurt,
Geneva and
Singapore. There are
high-speed trains to London every 20 minutes, and multiple shuttle flights to
London Heathrow Airport. The Lord Mayor of the City of London once said "Manchester is part of the Square Mile and the Square Mile is part of Manchester".
Construction The city and Greater Manchester region have benefited from large-scale developments such as the ongoing
Metrolink expansion, the £650m
MediaCityUK development and the largest development in the UK,
NOMA, at a cost of £800m. Future developments include the £800m
Manchester Airport City, which will be the largest UK development project since the London 2012 Olympics, the Etihad Campus project in conjunction with
Manchester City F.C. and the £50 billion
Atlantic Gateway project which aims to reinvigorate the
Manchester Ship Canal. The
University of Manchester is also investing £1 billion in developing its campus over the next decade.
Retail The pedestrianised
Market Street forms the core of the city centre's retail area. It is dominated on the north side by the
Manchester Arndale and a branch of
Debenhams. The city centre also has smaller centres including
The Triangle, which caters to youthful and upmarket clientele, and the
Royal Exchange Centre. The Shambles includes
Harvey Nichols,
Marks & Spencer, and
Selfridges stores, as well as a number of designer
boutiques. Overall, Manchester has the highest number of "premium retailers" and in 2010 turnover in Manchester city centre was £921m.
Deansgate also has many shops, including department store
House of Fraser (formerly Kendals), along with
pubs and bars.
King Street is an affluent shopping area with exclusive fashion brand stores, as well as many notable buildings preserved in a conservation area. Other hubs in the centre include St Ann's Square, and
Exchange Square. Former stores include
Lewis's, Henry's, and Affleck and Brown (now
Affleck's Palace). There are various markets held regularly within the city. In the run up to Christmas, the Manchester Christmas Markets take over
Albert Square, St. Ann's Square and surrounding streets. It started as a traditional German/French Christmas market, hence the large number of Glühwein & sausage stalls. This has grown year on year and boasts an increasingly wide range of stalls from
Western Europe (such as the
Netherlands,
Italy,
Spain). The markets provide food and drink into the evening extending the use of the city centre and lending a friendly spirit to Christmas shopping. ==Infrastructure==