Companies in Belfast
Belfast is the 22nd biggest place on the UK company register, with 25,157 live companies, or 0.4% of the UK total. 3,271 of those were formed in 2025. 2,004 (8.0%) have a proposal to strike off on file, close to the UK figure of 7.3%. Compared with the UK as a whole, Belfast stands out for manufacture of other rubber products: 33 companies, 10.1 times the national share.
What Belfast has more of than the rest of the UK
Each trade's share of Belfast companies, compared with its share across the UK.
Biggest trades in Belfast
Live Belfast companies, by year formed
Only companies still live are counted, so older years look smaller. 2026 stops on 1 November 2026.
See every year as a table
| Year | Live companies |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 558 |
| 2013 | 641 |
| 2014 | 730 |
| 2015 | 859 |
| 2016 | 895 |
| 2017 | 996 |
| 2018 | 1,114 |
| 2019 | 1,180 |
| 2020 | 1,022 |
| 2021 | 1,263 |
| 2022 | 1,183 |
| 2023 | 1,752 |
| 2024 | 2,238 |
| 2025 | 3,271 |
| 2026 | 2,384 |
Oldest active companies in Belfast
- Northern Ireland Chambers of Commerce and IndustryFormed 1869
- Ulster Steamship CompanyFormed 1877
- Ballymena Land Investment Company Limited - theFormed 1884
- Harland and Wolff, Public Limited CompanyFormed 1885
- Pilgrim Investment (northern Ireland)Formed 1891
Funny company names registered in Belfast
- Flour Power CateringFormed 2012
- Barkley and WagginsFormed 2020
Nearest in size
Town means the post town of the registered address, which isn't always where a company trades. Many companies use an accountant's or formation agent's address. Figures come from Companies House on 1 November 2026.