The Good Growth for Cities Index has placed Leicester, the home of the Williams Commerce headquarters, in the top 10 cities in the UK for the 3rd year running.
Leicester’s been the home of Williams Commerce since our inception back in 2009. Over the last decade, it has remained our main headquarters, even when the business has expanded across the UK and other international locations. Just last year we moved into exciting new premises at the Creative Mill, 64 Mansfield Street, as the business has continued to expand and go from strength to strength.
Rob Williams, CEO and founder of Williams Commerce, comments “Like many other entrepreneurs in Leicester, I was born here, moved away and then came back and started my own business.”
“Over the past 10 years, Williams Commerce has grown rapidly, with new offices opening around the world as we acquired other businesses and launched new projects, but Leicester’s always been a great place to have as our headquarters. It’s an attractive destination for people to live and work in, as well as a good place for meeting with clients from other parts of the country (it’s just a bit over 1 hour away from London by train).
Having two universities in the city who also produce thousands of talented graduates each year has also been a big benefit, and we have team members who started out at Williams Commerce straight after graduating and they’re still with us years later.”
A Thriving Economic and Digital Hub
The East Midlands city has remained ahead of neighbouring locations such as Nottingham and Derby, but also being rated more favourably compared to bigger cities such as Birmingham and London.
The index evaluates cities based on quality of life and analysing factors such as:
- Jobs
- Health
- New Businesses
- Owner occupation
- Skills
- Income distribution
- Income
- Work-life-balance
- House price to earnings
- Transport
- Environment
Leicester performs particularly well in comparison to other cities when it comes to Jobs, Health, New businesses and Income distribution. With a thriving digital community and a prime location for start-ups according to reports from Tech Nation and Start-Up Britain, this comes as no surprise.
Not to mention the city’s well-known diversity, with plenty of cultural events from hosting the biggest Diwali celebrations outside of India and an annual Caribbean festival, to being the home of one of the biggest comedy festivals in the country.
Why We Love Leicester
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of reasons to love living and working in Leicester, as members of the team working in our Leicester office will testify:
Keri Williams, our Marketing Director, appreciates “the vibrant fruit and veg market in the city centre, the connectivity to all major UK cities by public transport, the independent shopping scene and the amazing array of international cuisines on offer.”
Kavit Shah, Paid Search Manager, is a big fan of “our very own Leicester Foxes, the football team which now appears to (hopefully) have a 2nd Premier League title on the cards, after their fantastic win from 2016.”
Carrie Helliwell, from our Finance department, shares that “my absolute favourite thing is the music scene, we have some great live music venues and really good local bands!”
Another great thing about Leicester is the diversity and quality of food available in the city, with Ethan Lewis, Platform Specialist, highlighting that “We’ve got so much great food (Red Leicester, Walkers Crisps, Burleighs Gin, Pukka Pies, Everards Brewery), any more and we’d challenge the whole country of Italy to the title of ‘Best Food’”. Certainly a bold claim, but there’s no denying that you can easily delight your palate in Leicester.
If you also want to work in Leicester, get in touch to find out more about the opportunities available at Williams Commerce.
