Company formations continued apace throughout 2014 as the economy picked up, as indicated by new figures released by StartUp Britain. They reveal that the UK saw the creation of a record number of new businesses over the past year, with 184,671 Greater London businesses being registered with Companies House.

That predictably made the capital the strongest performer on the ‘entrepreneurial map’ that was also released by the national enterprise campaign, which is run by the Centre for Entrepreneurs think tank. 581,173 businesses were registered across the country overall last year, compared to the previous record of 526,446 businesses the year before, and 2012’s 484,224 figure.

Auguring well for the strength of entrepreneurialism in the UK as a whole was the news of considerably more businesses being started outside the capital, with Birmingham’s 18,337 new businesses making it the best-performing city outside the South East. It was followed by the north’s premier business creation hotspot, Manchester, with 13,054.

Yorkshire and Humberside and the East Midlands also saw high levels of growth, the overall statistics leading serial entrepreneur and Chairman of the Centre for Entrepreneurs, Luke Johnson, to remark that “Starting a business is easier, quicker and cheaper than ever thanks to new technology.”

He continued: “Entrepreneurs have higher profiles than in the past and are seen as role models. Traditional jobs for life have largely disappeared, as have occupational pensions.”

Budding or seasoned entrepreneurs contemplating the use of London Registrars’ company formations service will also be heartened by the news in the Sunday Times – from the Office for National Statistics – of a significantly lower number of business failures. Only 238,000 businesses dropped out of the Companies House register last year, a 6 per cent improvement on the previous year’s figure of 253,000.

StartUp Britain sourced its annual figures directly from its StartUp tracker, an online tool disclosing the number of firms registered with Companies House each day, month and year. The aforementioned 581,173 figure was taken on 31st December 2014, with the numbers in turn coming straight from Companies House.

Such statistics certainly suggest that for those considering using a company formations service like London Registrars, now may be an extremely opportune time to make their move.