Standing view · business · Nottingham
deteriorating, held with established confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2026-06.
Business births in Nottingham fell from 440 in the first quarter of 2025 to 335 in the second. Closures rose to 415 in the first quarter of 2026, then fell to 330 in the second, level with the most recent formation figure. Falling formations with closures at a similar level is why the business base reads as shrinking. There were 9,580 businesses in the city in 2025, of which 7,130 employed four people or fewer and 70 employed 100 to 249, across 12,075 sites.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Nottingham. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Business births | 2025-03 | improving |
| Business births | 2025-06 | deteriorating |
| Business deaths | 2026-03 | deteriorating |
| Business deaths | 2026-06 | improving |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Businesses | 2025 | — |
| Businesses employing 0 to 4 people | 2025 | — |
| Businesses employing 100 to 249 people | 2025 | — |
| Business sites | 2025 | — |