• The Vitality Index identifies towns and cities that have healthy and robust local economies, are best placed to support growth and will provide opportunities for businesses to expand 
• Four of the top five locations are in the South East - Brighton, Oxford, Reading and Guildford 
• Notably, three of the top five places are in the Thames Valley

Affluent commuter towns, such as Guildford, performed well, as did dynamic hubs of commerce and hi-tech industry, such as Oxford and Reading. While falling outside the top ten, Maidenhead ranked highly in the most entrepreneurial index and fastest growing index and has the largest number of  businesses per 1,000 people. This town will benefit from Crossrail and Western Rail Access to Heathrow and it will be very interesting to see if it appears in the top ten list in 2017.
 
Lambert Smith Hampton’s Head of the Thames Valley, Nick Coote, comments: “The Thames Valley stands out as the most successful location for business outside London  due to its quality living environment, connectivity to the City and Heathrow, all attracting a creative, educated, skilled workforce.”

The top 10 towns and cities in the 2016 UK Vitality Index are:
• Cambridge 
• Brighton 
• Oxford 
• Reading 
• Guildford
• Bristol
• St Albans 
• Manchester 
• Edinburgh 
• Milton Keynes 

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Data calculation
The ‘UK Vitality Index’ assesses the UK’s largest towns and cities outside London to provide a health check, identifying which have the most robust economies, are best positioned to support growth and will provide the greatest opportunities for businesses to expand. 
 
The results are based on the analysis of 20 datasets, with each city ranked within six separate categories: most productive, fastest growing, most entrepreneurial, best educated, greenest and growing affluence.