Nottingham - Economy

Economy

Nottingham is home to the headquarters of many well-known companies. One of the best known is Boots the Chemists (now Alliance Boots), founded in the city by John Boot in 1849 and substantially expanded by his son Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent and grandson John Boot, 2nd Baron Trent into a retail company known throughout the world. Other large current employers include the credit reference agency Experian, the energy company E.ON UK, the tobacco company Imperial Tobacco, betting company Gala Group, amusement and gambling machine manufacturer Bell-Fruit-Games, engineering company Siemens, sportswear manufacturers Speedo, high street opticians Vision Express, games and publishing company Games Workshop (creator of the popular Warhammer series), PC software developer Serif Europe (publisher of PagePlus and other titles), Web hosting provider Heart Internet, the American credit card company Capital One, whose European offices are situated by the side of Nottingham railway station. Nottingham is also the home of HM Revenue and Customs, the Driving Standards Agency, and Nottingham Building Society, set up in 1849.

Although Boots itself is no longer a research-based pharmaceutical company, a combination of former Boots researchers and university spin-off companies have spawned a thriving pharmaceutical/science/biotechnology sector. BioCity, the UK's biggest bioscience innovation and incubation centre, sits in the heart of the city and houses around seventy science-based companies. Other notable companies in the sector include Perceptive Informatics (ClinPhone plc before being bought by Parexel) and Pharmaceutical Profiles. The city was made one of the UK's six Science Cities in 2005 by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Until recently bicycle manufacturing was a major industry, the city being the birthplace of Raleigh Cycles in 1886 and later joined by Sturmey-Archer, the creator of 3-speed hub gears. However, Raleigh's factory on Triumph Road, famous as the location for the filming of Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, was demolished in Summer 2003 to make way for the University of Nottingham's expansion of Jubilee Campus. However the bicycles are still designed and assembled close to Nottingham in Eastwood, and still bear the city's name on their logo.

Nottingham is also birthplace of, and joint headquarters of Paul Smith, the high fashion house.

Creative Industries are a target growth sector for the city with graphic design, interiors and textile design being a particular focus. There is already a thriving design and new media industry in the city.

Nottingham City Council announced that other target sectors include Financial and Business Services, Science and Technology, Public Sector and Retail and Leisure as part of their economic development strategy for the city. The global Business SMS company Esendex was founded in the Lace Market district and now operates in 6 markets across the world. Ceramics manufacturer Mason Cash was founded and continues to have operations in Nottingham.

The schools and aerial photographers, H Tempest Ltd were Nottingham-based for many years, until relocating to St. Ives (Cornwall) around 1960. A skeleton office remained for many years in the original building next to Mundella School.

Many of the UK's railway ticket machines and platform departure boards run software written by Atos Origin in their offices in Nottingham. Other major industries in the city include engineering, textiles, knitwear and electronics. An increasing number of software developers are located in Nottingham: Reuters, Crytek UK and Monumental Games are based in the city centre, and Serif Europe are based between Wilford and Ruddington, south west of the Trent and east of Clifton.

Nottingham is progressively changing from an industrial city to one based largely in the service sector. Tourism — particularly from the United States and the Far East — is becoming an increasingly significant part of the local economy.

In 2004 Nottingham had a GDP per capita of £24,238 (US$48,287, €35,529), which was the highest of any English city after London, and the fourth highest of any city of the UK, after London, Edinburgh and Belfast.