The Datum Report

Standing view · business · Hinckley and Bosworth

The business base in Hinckley and Bosworth has been shrinking.

deteriorating, held with strong confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2026-06.

Business births in Hinckley and Bosworth fell in each of the three quarters after March, from 145 in the first quarter of 2025 to 125 in the second, 90 in the third and 85 in the fourth. Closures rose to 115 in the second quarter of 2025, above formations by the end of the period. Three consecutive falls in formations with closures rising points one way on both measures. There were 505 businesses employing between five and nine people in 2025, 230 employing 10 to 19 and 145 employing 20 to 49.

How this was decided

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 Hinckley and Bosworth. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.

The 5 measures that formed this view

MeasurePeriodDirection
Business births2025-03improving
Business births2025-06deteriorating
Business deaths2025-06deteriorating
Business births2025-09deteriorating
Business births2025-12deteriorating

Also published on this topic, but not counted

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.

MeasurePeriodSeries
Businesses employing 10 to 19 people2025
Businesses employing 20 to 49 people2025
Businesses employing 5 to 9 people2025