The Lure of Leeds for Companies New and Old

Leeds' pool of skilled workers is attracting startups and big-name companies alike.

00:15 10 June 2022

More and more companies are moving to Leeds to benefit from the city's pool of skilled workers and burgeoning deep tech industry, which covers artificial intelligence, robotics and bio-technologies, a report has shown. 

 

Melissa Berthelot, boss of medical appliance maker WarnerPatch, who relocated her business from London two years ago, said "move to Leeds and benefit from the jobs boom. In the UK, and Europe as a whole, it is difficult to find talent,” she says, “but we’ve found it, and it is why we are now based in Leeds.”

 

Leeds has recently jumped up the UK ranking for job creation and productivity after it gained a reputation for developing the skilled staff and financial muscle needed to fund startups and innovation, particularly in the healthcare industry, financial and legal services, manufacturing and retail.  

 

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said the deep well of data science graduates was one of the main reasons the central bank chose Leeds for its new base. “We wanted somewhere that has a presence in terms of financial services staff,” he said, “with universities we could recruit from, and that we have partnerships with. Data science is one of our growth areas.”