CUMBRIA witnessed a 7.5 per cent increase in the number of new companies being formed in 2020 despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The county registered 2,333 new businesses, compared to 2,171 in 2019.

This is according to statistics from Inform Direct’s review of company formations, which uses data from Companies House and the Office for National Statistics.

According to the figures, the number of companies in Cumbria is now 22,186, up from 21,286 at the end of 2019, equating to 4.2 per cent growth.

John Korchak, operations director at Inform Direct, said many of the new company formations had occurred within the retail sector ‘with a large number of new businesses set up to sell goods online or locally, thereby taking advantage of customers’ changing shopping habits’.

“Secondly, the effect of the pandemic and national lockdowns means that, sadly, some existing businesses have folded and employees made redundant, and we see many of those people setting up new ventures on their own as an alternative way to earn a living,” he said.

“2020 was a year like no other for UK businesses. Although we can look forward to a brighter future with the vaccination programme, there remain unknown factors, such as how quickly the economy will recover and of course the impact of Brexit.”

South Lakeland saw 585 new companies formed during 2020 - the most out of Cumbria’s districts. Carlisle saw 567; Allerdale 395; Furness 328; Eden 257; and Copeland 199.

The UK as a whole saw 780,766 new businesses formed in 2020, compared to 690,763 in 2019. The overall number of UK companies grew by 8.2 per cent.