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Companies in Bolton

Bolton is the 18th biggest place on the UK company register, with 26,710 live companies, or 0.5% of the UK total. 3,834 of those were formed in 2025. 2,079 (7.8%) have a proposal to strike off on file, close to the UK figure of 7.3%. Compared with the UK as a whole, Bolton stands out for activities of amusement parks and theme parks: 20 companies, 6.0 times the national share.

What Bolton has more of than the rest of the UK

Each trade's share of Bolton companies, compared with its share across the UK.

• Activities of amusement parks and theme parks (20 companies)6.0×
• manufacture of household textiles (21 companies)6.0×
• Wholesale of electronic and telecommunications equipment and parts (92 companies)3.9×
• Retail sale of tobacco products in specialised stores (29 companies)3.5×
• Wholesale of radio, television goods & electrical household appliances (other than records, tapes, CD's & video tapes and the equipment used for playing them) (21 companies)3.5×

Biggest trades in Bolton

• Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet1,400
• Buying and selling of own real estate1,330
• Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate1,289
• Management consultancy activities other than financial management1,034
• Information technology consultancy activities757
• Freight transport by road644
• Other human health activities628
• Take-away food shops and mobile food stands453

Live Bolton 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	431
2013	485
2014	651
2015	696
2016	850
2017	934
2018	1,140
2019	1,412
2020	1,362
2021	1,442
2022	1,662
2023	2,201
2024	2,696
2025	3,834
2026	3,540

Oldest active companies in Bolton

Funny company names registered in Bolton

Nearest in size

• Ilford
• Milton Keynes
• Norwich
• Northampton
• Southampton
• Reading

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.

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