Leamington's creative companies praised in report

The ‘Geography of Creativity in the UK’ report has found Leamington is home to more than 1,500 creative businesses which employ over 7,000 people - making the town one of 47 creative clusters in the UK.

Around half of the creative industries in Leamington are software and digital companies, with the other half made up primarily of design, music, performing arts and advertising businesses, along with some TV, radio and architecture companies.

The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) has identified Leamington’s creative industry as major driver of the local and regional economy.

Sarah Windrum, a member of the CWLEP board, said: “The growth of the creative industries in Leamington has a substantial economic benefit to the whole Coventry and Warwickshire region.

“The Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership is working with the cluster and the wider business community to encourage the sharing of best practice across all sectors to create a culture of innovation.

“This will benefit us all as creativity is one of the key drivers for economic growth and productivity.

“I am pleased the report highlights the strong foundation we have to build on which is all thanks to the hard work of our creative businesses.”

The report, which was carried out by innovation charity Nesta in partnership with Creative England, used latest data to map creative industries in the UK to demonstrate the economic significance of the creative industries across the country.

The report identified that creative companies are continuing to grow more rapidly than most other sectors nationally, with design, software and advertising sectors performing particularly well.

The growth is mainly due to an increase in small start-ups employing an average of three people.

In the recent Culture White Paper, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport identified that the creative industries contribute £81.4 billion to the economy.

The sector employs 1.9 million people and is growing twice as fast as the UK economy as a whole.

To view the full report visit nesta.org.uk/publications