I read with interest recently that Crawley has the highest employment rate of any town, not just in the South, but the UK, and that it also boasts the third highest wages in the UK. That’s quite a record for a town that I think is often over-looked and perhaps viewed as separate from the ‘Gatwick Diamond’ of which it is in fact the manjor key part. Just recently, the latest ‘Trainspotting’ film was previewed in Crawley in order to gain audience reaction, the reason for this being that the film makers thought that ‘Crawley represented the most average town in the UK’. I’m not sure the unemployment and wages statistics support that claim; I’m sure there are many residents of towns the length of the country looking at those statements with envy. The Centre for Cities 2017 report from which the statistics originate looks at 63 towns across the UK and also highlighted some other interesting facts about Crawley:

• It has the seventh highest number of patents granted per 1,000 people
• It’s the eighth most productive city in the UK with an average gross value added standing at £59,500 per worker
• It saw an annual increase in business start-ups of 29% - the third highest in the UK and 20% above average.

So, what a good time it is to be doing business in and around Crawley. It’s evidently booming, borne out by our work levels certainly. It is certainly not ‘average’. There’s no doubt that the town’s proximity to Gatwick brings with it huge benefits and it’s fair to say that, as a legal practice, the level on international business we do is probably more than many other town-based solicitors. We also see a great deal of activity and work arising from both those starting businesses and those selling businesses, supporting those facts laid out by the recent report. I would also point to the excellent non-air transport links that Crawley offers as well. Its proximity to the M23 and M25 make for part of a very key network for those businesses with distribution needs, as does the location relative to key ports across the south of England. All in all, Crawley is currently a great place to do business.