Local Franchise Opportunities in Leeds

It doesn’t matter where you’re based geographically, franchising could be an option for you. Specifically, mapped franchise territories are allocated for different regions throughout the UK, to ensure each franchisee has the same chance of success as their ‘neighbour franchisee’. Talking of neighbours, Leeds is directly linked to both London and Edinburgh via road with the M1 and A1 respectively directing you to where you want to go. On top of this, Leeds has great routes to both the east and west via the M62 as well.

Sick of sitting behind the wheel? Not an issue, the train link from Leeds is extremely convenient, you can be in Manchester in under 60 mins, London within 2 hours and Edinburgh within three hours. This highlights why the Leeds train station is seen as the busiest outside of London, making it a prime location to launch your franchise operation.

It’s not just the rail links and main motorways that make Leeds such a desirable location to launch your franchise, the airport in Leeds is seen as one of the fastest growing within the UK and it now travels to 70 destinations in 30 countries across Europe, North America and Asia. Leeds is also very close to Hull, which oversees 23% of all England’s cargo which could be a key consideration when choosing Leeds as your territory for the launch of your franchise. In terms of potential income, Leeds has the following to offer would be franchisees;

• 109,000 businesses
• Skilled workforce that totals 1.4 Million people
• Gross Value Added (GVA) that totals over £60 billion

Growth potential

In terms of size, Leeds is the third largest city within the UK, within a population of around 750,000, presenting a strong stable base to launch your franchise on, especially when it’s anticipated to grown by a further 17% within the next 10 years.

Leeds has also seen a huge increase in foreign direct investment over the past few years and is now placed second and has resulted in Leeds being recognised as the fourth most attractive city outside of London for inward investment (The Business Location Index).

Your franchise could be joining a whole raft of businesses that have already seen rapid growth through operating within the franchise territory of Leeds. Three years ago, Leeds Council revealed figures that highlighted a 16% increase in the number of operational businesses within Leeds, compared to the previous year. This was twice the national average for that period and demonstrates the attraction to launching your business within this desirable territory. 

The Biggest Financial hub outside of London…

It’s no hidden secret that Leeds is the biggest financial hub outside of the capital, two of the UK’s largest building societies actually originate from Leeds.

• Leeds and Yorkshire Building Society
• First Direct (Opted for Leeds over the Capital)

To be fair, Leeds is no small fish when it comes to the financial sector and it houses over 30 national and international banks, including the Bank of England’s only based outside of London. Providing further evidence to back up the potential for launching a franchise within this progressive territory. It’s not just the financial sector that is absolutely smashing it, Leeds houses over 200 different accountancy firms, including the ‘big four’ firms PwC UK, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG that have presence within this potential franchise territory. It’s not just Accountancy franchises that could potential thrive within this location, many of the UK’s biggest legal practices have offices within the Leeds Franchise Territory. 

There’s also a huge potential for skilled workers to join your franchise business, with over 122,200 financial and business services jobs and there’s a constant stream of graduates from the city’s universities.

Potential Space to operate my Franchise within

Office construction within the potential franchise territory of Leeds is at it’s highest since it last peaked in 2007 and there’s currently 865,000 square foot under construction which will ultimately create more space for potential franchise businesses to expand or launch within.  From a cost point of view, prospective franchisees will have an advantage through launching their business in Leeds as businesses can gain a lot more for their money, which will ultimately allow them to reduce costs.

Other business parks within Leeds;

• Leeds Valley Business Park
• City West Business Park
• Lawnswood Business Park
• Wire Business Park
• Roundhouse Business Park
• Hunslet Business Park

Leeds contains a strong pool of talent to help you push your franchise

Leeds has three strong universities, as well as a vocational institution like;

• University of Leeds
• Leeds Trinity
• Leeds Beckett University
• Leeds College of Art
• Leeds College of Music
• Leeds College of Building and the new UTC

The University of Leeds is the most prominent. It was in the top 100 of the QS world rankings in 2015 and sits at number 16 in the UK according to the Guardian’s university league table in 2016. As a member of the Russell Group, it’s one of the best research universities in the world, and currently has 49 active Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, the third highest number in the UK, which means businesses can tap into their research expertise.

Leeds Trinity and Leeds Beckett University, while further down the tables at 84 and 116 consecutively, continuously produce high quality candidates – and all three have high employability rates, with 97% of Leeds Beckett graduates, 96% of University of Leeds graduates and 95% of Leeds Trinity University graduates employed within 6 months.

 Please click here to view other franchise opportunities within the franchise territory of Leeds