London office space: why the capital remains a smart move.
When you’re growing your business, a London office can feel essential. But is it really? With 1.1 million (and counting) businesses already in the capital, is there still room for yours?
Actually, we’d be tempted to turn that question around: with 1.1 million businesses already in London, why not join them? That may seem reason enough to rent office space in London. But just in case you need a few more.
Access a skilled workforce
Pick almost any industry you like and the UK has a growing skills gap, but that problem is less acute when you have a vast pool of talent from which to draw.
Over the past decade, one in every three jobs created in the UK has been created in London. With a population of more than 8 million, London’s workforce is diverse – in terms of skills, experience and culture. Whether you’re a tech startup, a growing finance company or a food manufacturer, London is where top talent naturally gravitates.
And with more than 300 languages currently spoken here, the world’s most international city is the perfect base for global companies.
Discover a huge volume of shared office spaces and private offices
We have over one thousand private office spaces in London on our platform, with more than 500 developments offering shared and coworking spaces. We may be London’s go-to source of available office space, but it helps when there’s simply so much office space around.
The numbers in London are just bigger, to the extent that a single provider can boast more office accommodation than many other entire towns. There are, for example, more than 50 WeWork London offices on HubbleHQ’s books. For your business, that means shorter search times, greater choice and easy availability with no long waits to take occupancy. And speaking of choice…
Make finding the right office space easier
London gives you options. A private office may not be for everyone, but with so many shared spaces, fixed desks and hot desks, it’s easy to find coworking spaces in London that are an exact fit for your team, your budget and for the way you work.
The options extend to location too. There’s no being limited to an industrial estate on the outskirts of town when you base your self here. Virtually everywhere is an option, from Hackney to Hammersmith, Clapham to Croydon.
We’d suggest refining your search by London area, but if you’re not sure where to base yourself, try starting with an all-London search of offices or desks.
Add flexibility with meeting rooms in London
What if your London office isn’t your regular office? There are plenty of businesses of all sizes who work outside the capital, but appreciate a London presence where they can meet clients. For those businesses, a private office may be an expense too far, because for much of the time it might sit empty and unused.
But rent shared office space in London – even a desk or two – and you can operate it as a satellite London base. You’ll be able to officially promote as a London location (in addition to wherever your HQ is) and you’ll be able to take advantage of the facilities of that office. If you hold regular meetings in the capital, that can be a simple and cost-effective way of accessing cheap meeting rooms in central London, whenever you need them.
Find business finance and advice
There are, of course, lots of grants and funding opportunities available to businesses of every size across the UK, ranging from small business rate relief to matched funding for sustainability programmes. But London’s scale and heft means that when you base your office here, you can access lots of funding and other support opportunities unique to the capital.
Some of those are local authority initiatives – many boroughs have their own programmes, such as these in Southwark and Hammersmith; some are led centrally, with London Assembly initiatives including the London SME fund. And with one of the world’s great financial centres on your doorstep, you’ll find more independent opportunities for business growth finance than anywhere else.
“Lots of places like Berlin, Copenhagen, and Stockholm have some funds, but there’s only London where there’s 30 funds and hundreds of potential angel investors,” former prime ministerial advisor Rohan Silva told London tech startups just a few years ago.
Make collaboration easier
Carefully target where you rent shared office space in London and you can find yourself part of a community of businesses all of whom work in or with your sector. That has the potential to increase your business or expand your services. But it can also reduce the amount of time and money you need to spend on marketing, because when more work comes via your easily established networks, you can focus more on client servicing and retention, rather than acquisition.
Affordability
It’s all too easy to take one look at that glorious London skyline and think ‘well, I’ll never be able to afford an office there’. But choose your office wisely and London can be surprisingly affordable. Take a look at the world’s most expensive cities – globally or in Europe – and it doesn’t make the top 10 of either.
Add to that the sheer volume of offices and you can find some of the best coworking spaces in London – even in traditionally exclusive areas such as Soho and Fitzrovia – for little more than you might expect to pay on the outskirts of London or elsewhere in the UK.
Be better connected
To say London is well connected is a bit like saying the Kardashians are partial to the occasional selfie. The tube connects 270 stations and carries 5 million passengers every day. Almost 10,000 buses operate across 675 routes. There are overground rail connections to take you to every part of the UK (and Paris and Brussels), and London boasts six airports, including one of the world’s busiest: Heathrow.
Choose a London office and you place yourself at the centre of a transport network that can take you anywhere – a real advantage if you need to visit clients overseas.
Love the culture
If you already work in London, it’s easy to become a little blasé about the fact that every cuisine, every drink, every show, event and experience worth sampling is available here. You just don’t get that anywhere else. Even the most buzzing of UK cities can’t match the sheer volume and variety of London. So when there’s a client to wine and dine, a celebration to hold, an event to plan or simply a need to do something fun once in a while, just open the door of your London office and step outside.
It’s London
London. Paris. New York. The very name of some places adds a frisson of legitimacy and scale to a growing business. It’s a geographical badge of honour you just don’t get when your website lists your office location as… well, virtually anywhere else. Granted, few UK clients will be bowled over simply by the presence of a London office. But where your clients are internationally based, a London address can still be an important box to tick.
We know where the top offices and best coworking spaces in London are, and we’d love to show them to you. For help in finding the right London office space for you book a quick call with our office alchemists.
