The Datum Report

Standing view · business · Blackpool

New business registrations in Blackpool have been falling, though other measures here have run the other way.

mixed, held with tentative confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2026-06.

Business births in Blackpool numbered 195 in the quarter to September 2025, a favourable movement, then 135 in the quarter to December, 115 in the quarter to March 2026 and 105 in the quarter to June, each unfavourable. Business deaths were 85 in the quarter to September 2025, a favourable movement. Businesses numbered 3,780 in 2026, of which 490 employed 5 to 9 people and 235 employed 10 to 19. Births fell in each successive quarter after September 2025.

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 Blackpool. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.

The 5 measures that formed this view

MeasurePeriodDirection
Business births2025-09improving
Business deaths2025-09improving
Business births2025-12deteriorating
Business births2026-03deteriorating
Business births2026-06deteriorating

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
Businesses2026 falling
Businesses employing 10 to 19 people2026 falling
Businesses employing 5 to 9 people2026 falling