Watford is the third best place to start a business outside of London, according to new research.

Research by Tide, a business financial platform, combined data on factors including the rise in the number of startups, the five-year startup survival rate, and the number registered businesses as a percentage of the town's population, to reveal the best UK towns and cities to launch a business.

Watford comes third in the rankings, scoring consistently in the top 10 for every scoring factor.

There was a 38.1 per cent increase in startups between 2018 and 2019 which is the fifth-highest of the top fifty cities, moreover, there is a five-year survival rate of 45.45 per cent in the town.

There are 482 registered businesses in the town which is equivalent to 0.5 per cent of the population.

“Taking the step into entrepreneurship is a big one, and I am always impressed by the number of people who are keen to leap into the unknown and give it a go, particularly in the last year, when we have seen an unprecedented number of new businesses emerge,” Oliver Prill, CEO at Tide said.

He added: “It’s a very difficult step to take though, and as the data shows, not all start-ups make it.”

Bournemouth was crowned the best city outside of London to start a business with a 95.8 per cent increase in startups between 2018 and 2019, which is by far the highest of any of the top 50 towns and cities and a five-year survival rate of 45.65 per cent.