1. Home
2. Towns
3. Bristol

Companies in Bristol

Bristol is the 6th biggest place on the UK company register, with 58,611 live companies, or 1.0% of the UK total. 6,272 of those were formed in 2025. 3,416 (5.8%) have a proposal to strike off on file, below the UK figure of 7.3%. Compared with the UK as a whole, Bristol stands out for production of electricity: 400 companies, 3.5 times the national share.

What Bristol has more of than the rest of the UK

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

• Production of electricity (400 companies)3.5×
• Reproduction of sound recording (36 companies)3.2×
• Television programme production activities (232 companies)2.0×
• Other accommodation (214 companies)1.7×
• Scaffold erection (122 companies)1.7×

Biggest trades in Bristol

• Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate3,572
• Management consultancy activities other than financial management2,154
• Buying and selling of own real estate2,133
• Information technology consultancy activities1,326
• Development of building projects1,322
• Business and domestic software development1,152
• Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet1,058
• Other human health activities863

Live Bristol 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	1,327
2013	1,531
2014	1,836
2015	1,965
2016	2,054
2017	2,193
2018	2,523
2019	2,875
2020	2,733
2021	2,915
2022	3,168
2023	3,729
2024	4,370
2025	6,272
2026	5,606

Oldest active companies in Bristol

Funny company names registered in Bristol

Nearest in size

• Birmingham
• Glasgow
• Edinburgh
• Cardiff
• Leeds
• Liverpool

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.

Play Real or Fake