Six companies to watch in 2026

THE West of England has continued to prove its mettle in 2025.

- HANNAH BAKER

In a turbulent year that has seen businesses grapple with persistent inflation, geopolitical tensions and the rise of AI, the region has worked to showcase its strength across sectors including technology, aerospace and defence.The West with Devon and Cornwall to the South and Bristol and Bath to the North is a vast and diverse region that is home to numerous world-class universities, the UK's most powerful supercomputer and a spaceport that is in the running for a landmark European Space Agency programme.

Thousands of companies are based in the region, including major British firms such as investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown in Bristol; cosmetics brand Lush in Poole; New Look in Weymouth; and Cornish Metals in Truro.

The West of England Combined Authority area alone (Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, and South Gloucestershire) has a growing population of more than 1.2 million people and an economy worth £53.7bn.

Meanwhile, the Great South West - Devon, Cornwall, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire contributes £81.3bn nominal Gross Value Added (GVA) to the economy, while supporting 133,000 companies five per cent of the UK's total business base. In just five years, the number of businesses in the Great South West has grown by 4.6 per cent, exceeding the UK average and experiencing the highest growth of all UK regions.

The West of England is also the fastest-growing area in Britain for creative industries, outpacing even London with a remarkable 4.1% compound annual growth rate, according to a report published this year by the University of Exeter, Arts University Bournemouth, Arts University Plymouth, Bournemouth University, Falmouth University, and the University of Plymouth.