Revealed: The top UK locations to start a nail & beauty business
By Guest Writer | 15 February 2022 | Business, Feature
Research conducted by Yell has discovered which UK regions show the most potential for a new beauty business.
The research was conducted by analysing Google search demand, such as searches for a ‘London nail artist’ and the number of businesses that match this search in each area.
The study found that the top three areas to open up a nail salon are Dorchester, Crewe and Oldham, with other key areas to start a hair and beauty business including Milton Keynes, Oxford, Nottingham, and Northampton.
| Business type | Top three locations based on searches per listing |
| Nail artist | 1. Dorchester (3.23)
2. Crewe (2.22) 3. Oldham (1.82) |
| Hairdresser | 1. Oxford (86.39)
2. Milton Keynes (84.59) 3. Nottingham (73.11) |
| Ear piercing | 1. Milton Keynes (266.30)
2. Kilmarnock (172.31) 3. Doncaster (170.43) |
| Teeth whitening | 1. Northampton (83.37)
2. Wigan (67.36) 3. Oldham (54.41) |
| Waxing | 1. Nottingham (16.65)
2. Milton Keynes (16.52) 3. Oldham (16.00) |
Despite the challenges of the global coronavirus pandemic, the research revealed that 718,441 companies were started during 2021, with 2% of these companies (11,841) were within the hair and beauty industry.
In total, it was found that 13% more new businesses were created each month in 2021, than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Claire Miles, CEO of Yell comments: “With the challenges of the last two years, we might expect to find that fewer people decided to take the leap into the world of starting and running their own business. However, the data clearly shows that it has potentially inspired more people to take ownership of what they do for a living and finally make the dream of running their own business come true.
“With the background of the pandemic and numerous economic and supply chain challenges, it’s really encouraging to see that the entrepreneurial spirit of the UK is continuing to grow year on year”.