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Companies in London

London is the 1st biggest place on the UK company register, with 1,114,179 live companies, or 19.5% of the UK total. 164,217 of those were formed in 2025. 78,415 (7.0%) have a proposal to strike off on file, close to the UK figure of 7.3%. Compared with the UK as a whole, London stands out for fund management activities: 2,198 companies, 2.6 times the national share.

What London has more of than the rest of the UK

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

  • Fund management activities (2,198 companies)2.6×
  • Activities of financial services holding companies (4,125 companies)2.5×
  • Activities of venture and development capital companies (1,582 companies)2.4×
  • Other software publishing (8,307 companies)2.3×
  • Non-life insurance (1,510 companies)2.3×

Biggest trades in London

Live London companies, by year formed

Only companies still live are counted, so older years look smaller. 2026 stops on 1 November 2026.

20122026
See every year as a table
YearLive companies
201218,398
201321,987
201425,811
201529,920
201633,196
201738,225
201844,716
201953,082
202054,920
202159,395
202264,194
202380,872
202499,532
2025164,217
2026171,139

Oldest active companies in London

  1. Oriental Gas CompanyFormed 1856
  2. B.l.holdingsFormed 1856
  3. Gresham HouseFormed 1857
  4. Standard Chartered AfricaFormed 1862
  5. London and Suburban Land and Building CompanyFormed 1863

Funny company names registered in London

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.

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