Plymouth, United Kingdom
What Plymouth is made of: the communities whose institutions are here, the sectors its 6,856 businesses sit in, the franchises already on the ground, and the services a newcomer could start.
6,856 businesses on file · 118 trades · 110 sectors · · built from geonet.plymouth on 2026-11-07
Britain's Ocean City, waterfront
Visiting rather than moving? The free guidebook for Plymouth → — the free guidebook for this region: why go, what to see, what is open when it rains.
The local economy
What the business base is made of, what it is specialised in against the national pattern, and what that mix implies. This is the part a development office would read first.
Composition, not health. geonet records what trades exist and where; it does not record formation, closure, employment or revenue, so none of those appear here. What makes this economics rather than a directory is the NAICS coding: it lets the local mix be read against the BLS survival curves and against the 323 industry groups this research has screened.
Every industry group on this page links through to its NAICS page, and to the screened market report where this research has one — that is what the trait-to-NAICS coding buys.
What this city is specialised in
Location quotient is this city's share of a trade divided by the same share across 2 UK metro tables. Above 1.25 is the conventional threshold for a local specialisation.
| Industry group | LQ | Businesses | Entry signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4412 Other motor vehicle dealers | 6.05 | 57 | Caution+1 more |
| 5313 Activities related to real estate — Property Management Services | 2.94 | 18 | Caution |
| 4411 Automobile dealers | 1.84 | 53 | Enter |
| 3118 Bakeries and tortilla manufacturing — Craft Bakery Operation | 1.49 | 21 | Caution |
| 5242 Agencies, brokerages and other insurance related activities — Insurance Brokerage Book Acquisition | 1.46 | 49 | Caution+1 more |
| 2381 Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors | 1.41 | 38 | Caution |
| 6111 Elementary and secondary schools | 1.36 | 159 | Enter |
| 2382 Building equipment contractors — Mechanical Trades Business Acquisition | 1.36 | 112 | Caution |
| 8131 Religious organizations | 1.28 | 58 | Caution |
Thin against the national pattern
Common trades that are under-represented here. For someone deciding what to open, this is the more useful half of the table — though a gap can mean unmet demand or a market that does not work here, and this does not tell you which.
The base against the entry screen
Businesses by the entry signal of the industry group they sit in, from the /markets screen. A large "structure decides" share means most local trades are ones where being better than the incumbent does not by itself win. A trade is matched to the screened record at whatever level the research wrote it — the same code, a broader one, or a narrower one. Where a group holds several screened sub-markets the count is shown, because no single one of them speaks for the whole group.
How to read the survival figure
Each sector's five-year establishment survival rate, weighted by how many of this city's businesses sit in that sector. It is a property of the MIX, not of these businesses — it says what survival this composition would imply at US private-sector rates, because no Canadian equivalent series exists.
Weighted over 99.7% of the coded base — public administration carries no curve. Source: Business Employment Dynamics — Table 7, Survival of private sector establishments by opening year, US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And what it does not measure
A "mixed" trait is one that genuinely spans codes — "computers" covers systems design, repair and supply. The clear share is how much of this reading rests on unambiguous coding. Business density also reflects how completely the directory covers a place, not only how many businesses are in it — so it compares poorly between a city the register knows well and one it does not.
Who lives here, and who the city is for
The census: the only figures on this page that count people rather than businesses, and the three cohort readings they make possible.
No census subdivision is mapped for uk-plymouth in local/census-map.json, so this page carries no census figures. The mapping is kept explicit because Canada has several places called London, Toronto and Kelowna, and attaching the wrong one would put another city's demographics on this page.
The communities the register shows
A community appears in the business register before it appears in prose — a national church, a society, a credit union, a newspaper. Those are counted as institutions, and they are what suggests residents. A restaurant serving a cuisine is counted separately as trade, because every city has those and they say nothing about who lives nearby. The ranking is by institutions.
| Community | Institutions | Worship | Trade | Where it shows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | — | — | 16 | trade on Union Street (2)
|
| Thai | — | — | 3 | |
| Spanish-speaking | — | — | 2 | |
| Polish | — | — | 2 | |
| Dutch | — | — | 2 | |
| German | — | — | 2 | |
| Irish | — | — | 2 | |
| Japanese | — | — | 1 | |
| South Asian | — | — | 1 | |
| Italian | — | — | 1 | |
| Arabic-speaking | — | — | 1 | |
| Scottish | — | — | 1 |
What the city is made of
Every business on file, grouped by the sector it trades in. This is the economic-development view: where the 6,856 businesses actually are, and the specific trades inside each sector.
| Sector | Businesses | Share | What is in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 239 | 3.5% | plumbing (80) · roofing (38) · painting (25) · machinery (25) · electrician (21) · carpet (19) · heating and cooling (11) · flooring (6) |
| Education | 189 | 2.8% | school (159) · library (21) · garden (8) · writing (1) |
| Living | 171 | 2.5% | place of worship (58) · cleaning (38) · furniture (20) · property management (18) · appliances (14) · veterinary (9) · fire safety (7) · apartment (4) |
| Business | 138 | 2% | association (58) · accounting (53) · consulting (12) · foundation (5) · government (4) · vending (3) · auction (2) · cemetary (1) |
| Dining | 124 | 1.8% | restaurant (72) · fast food (24) · pizza (21) · pubs (2) · diner (2) · steakhouse (2) · chinese restaurant (1) |
| Retail | 107 | 1.6% | flowers (27) · photography (23) · jeweler (18) · antiques (11) · pet supply (9) · department store (8) · gifts (3) · convenience (2) |
| advertising | 97 | 1.4% | |
| Travel | 87 | 1.3% | hotel (44) · travel agent (42) · airline (1) |
| engineer | 71 | 1% | |
| cafes | 71 | 1% | fruit (1) |
| Automotive | 71 | 1% | autos (53) · tires (13) · scooter (3) · auto repair (2) |
| construction | 69 | 1% | |
| Finance | 62 | 0.9% | insurance (41) · mortgage (10) · bank (10) · loans (1) |
| beautysalons | 60 | 0.9% | |
| Sports | 57 | 0.8% | boating marine (52) · golf equipment (2) · martial arts (2) · horse (1) |
| Food | 55 | 0.8% | baker (21) · catering (16) · grocer (9) · ice cream (5) · seafood (4) |
| legal | 54 | 0.8% | |
| electric | 50 | 0.7% | |
| housewares | 43 | 0.6% | |
| Beauty | 42 | 0.6% | dentist (34) · hair stylist (8) |
The franchises already here
Brands from a register of 2,024 franchise systems, matched into this city by name. A high count is a signal in both directions: the territory works, and it may be taken.
27 of these brands are a single common word — Metro, Avenue, Budget — so their counts include businesses that merely share the word. They are marked rather than dropped.
| Brand | Category | Here | Worldwide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salvation Army | retail | 6 | — |
| Pizza Hut | pizza | 4 | 10,000 |
| Thomas Cook | travel | 4 | 700 |
| Burger King | fastfood | 2 | 11,000 |
| House of Fraser | retail | 2 | — |
| Laura Ashley | retail | 2 | — |
| Bad Boy | retail | 1 | 7 |
| Blockbuster Video | video | 1 | 5,900 |
| Cartridge World | retail | 1 | 1,400 |
| Cash Converters | retail | 1 | 16 |
| Disney Store | retail | 1 | — |
| Holiday Inn | businesshotel | 1 | — |
| Royal Bank | bank | 1 | — |
| St. John | retail | 1 | — |
| The Body Shop | retail | 1 | — |
| Vue Cinemas | entertainment | 1 | 55 |
| Londis name only | supermarket | 5 | 2,100 |
| Manor name only | retail | 5 | — |
| Safeway name only | supermarket | 5 | 1,767 |
| Tesco name only | retail | 5 | 1,780 |
| Coach name only | luggage | 4 | — |
| Somerfield name only | supermarket | 3 | 1,132 |
| Debenhams name only | retail | 2 | 126 |
| Dillons name only | supermarket | 2 | 18 |
| Halfords name only | retail | 2 | 420 |
| Hannaford name only | supermarket | 2 | 150 |
| HomeBase locations name only | retail | 2 | 320 |
| Stitches name only | retail | 2 | — |
| YMCA name only | fitness | 2 | — |
| ASDA name only | supermarket | 1 | 243 |
| Burton name only | retail | 1 | — |
| Champion name only | supermarket | 1 | 1,000 |
| Europcar name only | car | 1 | 2,825 |
| Greyhound name only | travel | 1 | — |
| Illuminations name only | retail | 1 | 16 |
| Kingfisher name only | home | 1 | 680 |
| Limited name only | retail | 1 | — |
| Marriott name only | upscalehotel | 1 | 2,800 |
| Michaels name only | retail | 1 | 805 |
| Mothercare name only | retail | 1 | — |
| Pavilions name only | supermarket | 1 | 32 |
| Renaissance name only | upscalehotel | 1 | — |
| Waterstones name only | retail | 1 | 193 |
Real estate as a local trade
Four unrelated jobs share the name: selling existing homes, owning and letting them, managing them for someone else, and building new ones. For anyone weighing a move or a licence these are the counts — and the ownership question goes to /property, which answers it building by building.
Real estate is a local job market in its own right, and four unrelated trades get the same name. Counts are businesses filed under each trade in the register, which lists a brokerage once however many agents work there — so this measures firms, not licensees.
Owning and letting
5311Lessors of real estate: the buildings themselves, filed under the building rather than the owner.
Named in the register
- 5 and 6 Elliot Terrace — 5 Elliot Terrace; The Hoe
- Haddington House Apartments — 42 Haddington Road
- No 9 Hill Park Crescent Management Co — 9 Hill Park Crescent; North Hill
- Punlight — 12 Harwell Court
Managing for owners
5313Property managers, who run buildings the landlord does not.
Named in the register
- 9 and 10 Fellowes Place Management Co — 9 & 10 Fellowes Place; Millbridge
- Ash Properties — 29 Hillside Avenue
- Chris Shorey — 6 North Rd East
- Doorstep Property Services — 250 Dean Cross Rd
- Falcon Property Lettings — 8 Mannamead Road
- Gulland Properties — 12 Thorn Park; Mannamead
- Haddon Peter Property Management Services — 23 Waterloo Street; Off North Hill
- Haddon Property Management Services — 23 Waterloo St
- Just Lets — 106 North Hill
- Laira Properties — 11 The Crescent
- Omnisure Property Management — Unit 215; Hm Dockyard
- Plymouth Accommodation Bureau
- R B Hannaford — Butlas Farm; Plympton
- Stratton and Holborow — Care of Richard Tuffin & Co; 6-8 Drake Circus
Building new homes
2361Residential builders and the general contractors who work for them.
Named in the register
- A E Andrew Developments — 8 Derrys Cross
- Churchwood Valley Holiday Cabins — Churchwood Est
- Cosalt Plc — 12a Commercial Street
- Kingsmead Parks — Glenholt Park; Glenfield Road
- L W Rawlings — Underhill Villas; Stoke
- McLeod Bros Contractors — 2 The Esplanade
- Riverside Caravan Park — Longbridge Road
- T D B Contractors — 31 Torridge Road; Plympton
- V Honey and Son — Plympton
Financing it
5222Mortgage brokers and non-bank lenders.
Named in the register
- Complete Mortgage Services South West — Marina House; Moor View Terrace
- Cross Keys Mortgage Centre — 51 Devonport Road
- Mortgage Agency Services Number Two — The Money Centre; PO BOX 138
- Mortgage Direct — 15 Trafalgar Street
- Mortgages 4 Plymouth — 8 Peverell Pk Road
- Nationwide Trust — 66 Ebrington Street
- Save On Mortgages — 11A Radford Pk Road
- The Mortgage Shop — 18 Mannamead Road
- The Mortgage Shop — 18 Mannamead Road
- Western Mortgage Brokers — N & P House; 8 Derry's Cross
- Western Mortgage Services — Moneycentre (the); Drake Circus
On "how many doors"
How many doors a landlord holds is not in any of this. The register files an apartment building under the building, not its owner, and carries no unit count; there is no open dataset of Canadian landlords by portfolio. Where this research has established ownership it is in the /property record for the city, building by building, which is a different and much slower exercise.
Work on the go, mobile services
The Ultimate 411 half of local: everything where the customer does not have to come to you. Each service opens a page on Ultimate 411 to request a quote or book a time.
A shop needs the customer to walk in. These 320 services do the opposite — the mobile mechanic, the mobile groomer, the bookkeeper, the junk haul — and they are the ones a person can start without a lease. 1 of them already match a trait filed in this city's register.
The 320 Service=1 rows in search.local: work on the go, mobile services, where the provider travels to the customer. "present" counts businesses already filed under that exact trait name; a blank is a coverage gap, not proof of absence, because the two vocabularies were built separately.
home services
construction
services
events
healthcare
pets
beauty
luxury
sporting goods
sports
business
outdoors
spas
travel
Schools and colleges
wander.schools is a post-secondary table — universities and colleges. K-12 public and private schools are not in it, and only 7 of its 1,686 rows carry coordinates, so these are listed and not mapped.
| Institution | Type | Students | Founded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plymouth | University | — | — |
In the business register
Where schooling shows up as a business rather than an institution — which is where K-12, tutoring and childcare appear.
Health and care
What a person moving a parent here would ask first. The register files clinics and pharmacies; it has no category for a hospital at all, so hospitals are matched by name and the limit is stated rather than hidden.
Matched on the name "hospital"
- The Budshead Health Centre — 433 Budshead Road
- PDSA Pet Aid Hospital — 10 Durnford Street
- Plympton Hospital — MARKET RD
- St Budeaux Health Centre — Stirling Road
- Estover Health Centre — Leypark Walk
- Plympton Health Centre — The Health Centre/Physiotherapy
- Plympton Health Centre — Mudge Way
- Freedom Health Centre — 78 Lipson Road
- Hospital Radio Plymouth — Derriford Hospital
- Plymouth Hospital School — Derriford Hospital, Derriford Rd
- Duchy Hospital
geonet carries no 'hospital' trait, so these are matched on the business name. A distance-to-hospital figure needs a source that states hospital locations.
What this record cannot tell you
Named in full, because the gaps are the part most likely to be misread as an answer.
- No census figures on this page: this region is not mapped to a census subdivision in local/census-map.json, so the community counts here are business-register institutions, which is a different measurement and cannot substitute for a population.
- wander.schools is now readable, but it holds universities and colleges only and 1,679 of its 1,686 rows have no coordinates. K-12 public and private schools need a separate source — in Ontario the Ministry of Education school finder, in British Columbia the provincial school list. wander.citytowns, hotels and territories remain denied to the ru user.
- No 'hospital' trait exists in geonet; distance to a hospital needs an external source such as StatCan's Open Database of Healthcare Facilities.
- 0.3% of businesses here carry no coordinates, so a map or address lookup would miss them. Postal codes reach 100%.
Built from
geonet.plymouth— the local business registerwander.regions— city name, population, metrosearch.local— trait vocabulary and the come-to-you servicessearch.cozfranchises— 2,024 franchise brands