Twenty years of it.
Companies still on the register today, counted by the year they were incorporated, across all 39 trades. Read the note underneath before you read the shape: the rise is not all growth.
New companies in these 39 trades, by year
2007 to 2026 · 2026 counts January to October only
Older years undercount. The register only holds companies that still exist. Anything formed in an earlier year and since dissolved has dropped off it, so the further back the chart goes the more it undercounts. That alone makes every trade look like it is growing. Some of the rise here is real growth and some of it is simply that recent companies have had less time to close.
Why the far end of that chart is wrong.
The Companies House register holds companies that exist. A company formed in 2007 and dissolved in 2013 is not on it, and so it is not in the 2007 column above. Every year that has had longer to lose its companies shows fewer of them. Take that far enough back and the effect stops being a caveat and becomes the whole number.
| Decade | Still on the register | Relative volume |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 252 | |
| 1910s | 314 | |
| 1920s | 769 | |
| 1930s | 1,362 | |
| 1940s | 1,938 | |
| 1950s | 4,207 | |
| 1960s | 9,251 | |
| 1970s | 16,886 | |
| 1980s | 42,156 | |
| 1990s | 90,804 | |
| 2000s | 320,887 | |
| 2010s | 1,029,321 | |
| 2020s (to October 2026) | 2,039,593 |
The 1900s row is the argument in one line. The survival rate, not the formation rate, is what falls away as the table goes back, and it falls away smoothly, which is exactly what makes the raw series look like a clean growth curve.
The second tell: everything rises at once. Measured on the yearly series, 39 of the 39 trades show 2025 above 2007, including trades anyone working in them will tell you have had a hard decade. Twenty-four separate industries do not all grow together. What they have in common is not a boom, it is the register. The method page sets out where the data comes from.
30 trades growing, 7 shrinking.
Strip the distortion out and there is still a real answer in here. Compare the first 10 months of 2026 with the same 10 months of 2025: both cohorts are equally recent and have had the same time to fail, so whatever is left is a genuine change in how many people are starting that kind of business. The 2007 and 2025 columns sit alongside for contrast, and they are the ones to distrust.
- Building and trades
- Digital and professional
- Retail and food
- Transport and logistics
- People and care
- Property
| Trade | Change | Jan–Oct 2025 | Jan–Oct 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital and professional. Web & software development | Up 84% | 11,095 | 20,360 |
| Retail and food. Online retail | Up 35% | 27,926 | 37,632 |
| Transport and logistics. Taxi & private hire | Up 31% | 2,636 | 3,442 |
| Building and trades. Plumbers & HVAC | Up 28% | 4,437 | 5,677 |
| Digital and professional. Education & training | Up 28% | 7,204 | 9,195 |
| Digital and professional. IT support | Up 22% | 6,912 | 8,435 |
| Digital and professional. Architecture & engineering | Up 18% | 8,480 | 9,979 |
| Digital and professional. Management consultancy | Up 17% | 24,483 | 28,556 |
| Building and trades. Electricians | Up 16% | 5,051 | 5,873 |
| Transport and logistics. Motor vehicle repair | Up 16% | 6,490 | 7,521 |
| Digital and professional. Advertising & design | Up 15% | 9,986 | 11,521 |
| Digital and professional. IT consultancy | Up 14% | 12,573 | 14,316 |
| Transport and logistics. Freight & couriers | Up 13% | 11,552 | 13,044 |
| Building and trades. Construction | Up 12% | 45,259 | 50,901 |
| Retail and food. Takeaways | Up 11% | 14,968 | 16,625 |
| People and care. Childcare | Up 11% | 1,281 | 1,422 |
| Retail and food. Restaurants & cafes | Up 10% | 14,172 | 15,605 |
| Building and trades. Landscaping | Up 10% | 2,773 | 3,044 |
| Digital and professional. Legal services | Up 10% | 1,472 | 1,621 |
| Retail and food. Catering & events | Up 10% | 8,020 | 8,794 |
| Retail and food. Wholesale | Up 10% | 4,323 | 4,741 |
| Transport and logistics. Used car dealers | Up 10% | 5,067 | 5,552 |
| People and care. Cleaning services | Up 9% | 9,373 | 10,250 |
| People and care. Fitness | Up 8% | 2,375 | 2,558 |
| Transport and logistics. Removals | Up 8% | 1,306 | 1,415 |
| Retail and food. Hairdressing & beauty | Up 7% | 10,230 | 10,936 |
| Retail and food. Convenience stores | Up 6% | 9,582 | 10,173 |
| Retail and food. Pubs & bars | Up 6% | 5,147 | 5,463 |
| People and care. Security services | Up 4% | 1,943 | 2,029 |
| Digital and professional. Business support services | Up 2% | 10,651 | 10,819 |
| People and care. Care services | Level | 3,918 | 3,903 |
| People and care. Health practitioners | Level | 15,518 | 15,548 |
| Digital and professional. Estate agents | Down 1% | 3,361 | 3,322 |
| Digital and professional. Recruitment | Down 3% | 3,038 | 2,946 |
| Digital and professional. Photography | Down 5% | 1,832 | 1,743 |
| Digital and professional. Accounting | Down 6% | 3,469 | 3,252 |
| People and care. Veterinary | Down 7% | 352 | 328 |
| Property. Property investment & letting | Down 8% | 56,452 | 51,776 |
| Property. Property management | Down 8% | 17,743 | 16,370 |
30 of the 39 trades registered more companies in the first 10 months of 2026 than in the same months of 2025; 7 registered fewer, and 2 came in level. Web & software development moved most on the way up, at 84% (11,095 to 20,360). Property management moved most on the way down, at 8% (17,743 to 16,370). Every trade opens on its own page, with the same comparison broken down by town.
Which parts of the economy moved.
The 39 trades grouped into six families, ranked on the last twelve months, each with its own like-for-like change on the first 10 months of the year. Each family has a page carrying its own history and its own busiest towns.
Up 21% on Jan–Oct 2025 Retail and food 126,759 Last 12 months · 8 trades
Up 17% on Jan–Oct 2025 Property 80,044 Last 12 months · 2 trades
Down 8% on Jan–Oct 2025 Building and trades 74,672 Last 12 months · 4 trades
Up 14% on Jan–Oct 2025 People and care 41,761 Last 12 months · 7 trades
Up 4% on Jan–Oct 2025 Transport and logistics 35,916 Last 12 months · 5 trades
Up 15% on Jan–Oct 2025
All 39 trades this month · Every town counted · How the counts are made
Every figure on this page is a count of companies still on the Companies House register at the 1 November 2026 snapshot, grouped by SIC code. Nothing is modelled, and no attempt is made to estimate the companies that have already gone. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
298,620 new companies, registered March to November 2026. Any month from £15.
298,620 companies registered across the UK in March to November 2026 are in the file, each with its name, number, registered address, directors and trade. Every company registered, with its website, email and phone number where we can find one. Most companies this new have no website yet, so many rows will be the company, its address and its directors.
Bought per trade, or as one file for a family of trades. National, the whole UK; filter by town in the file. Any month from £15. 3p a company, £15 minimum an order. Pick one month, any mix, or everything.
- Construction 42,816 companies £1156.03
- Property investment & letting 41,417 companies £1118.26
- Online retail 33,130 companies £894.51
- Management consultancy 23,346 companies £630.34
- Web & software development 18,602 companies £502.25
- Every trade, with its count and price
Every list shows its count and price before you pay. Pay by card; within a minute an email tells you when your file will arrive.
Not ready to buy? Every one of the 39 trades has a free sample: its 25 newest companies, with each one's registered address and directors, as a CSV. Pick the trade.