London's Creative Firepower Should Benefit All Of UK, Study Says

London’s creative industry will continue to make the capital richer while the rest of the UK lags economically behind, according to The Geography of Creativity, a new study by charity Nesta and Creative England. Bisnow looks at the data.

Nesta's study identifies 47 areas of creative industry activity, termed creative clusters, across Britain. Creative industries include music, theatre, film, radio, TV, design, digital, advertising and architecture. The growth of these sectors is critical to the overall economy of the UK and thus more needs to be done to strengthen these creative clusters, the report recommends.

London has 40% of Britain's creative industries' employees as well as one-third of creative businesses. More than half of all creative industries employers are in the South East, including London.  

Nesta claims the creative industry imbalance between London and the rest of the UK will further intensify as these industries continue on their upward growth trajectories. The study concludes that creative industries are growing twice as fast as the economy in toto and suggests the benefits of the growth should be felt across all of the UK.

It should not be surprising that London is a hub of creative companies and employees who want to work there. Creative talent is naturally drawn to the attractions of such an international, vibrant city and cultural offerings. The large labor force also creates a hive of knowledge sharing, serendipitous meetings and networking—all fuel for creative activity.

Those creatives who choose to live outside the capital tend to do so in burgeoning hotspots like Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol and Cardiff. One visualization on Nesta’s talent map shows Penzance, of all the random places, glowing bright blue—which should prove talent lives everywhere.