New businesses in Greater Manchester — October 2026
Auspector ·
Between September 27 and October 27, 2026, 2,249 business records in Greater Manchester entered our newly opened businesses section — second among the UK’s 150 counties, after Greater London, and the most of any county relative to its size: 13.7 new records per 1,000. Manchester itself received 588, followed by Bolton (139).
How many new businesses open in Greater Manchester?
2,249 Greater Manchester records entered our newly opened businesses section between September 27 and October 27, 2026, about 75 a day, from 163,814 records in our database. Only Greater London received more. Relative to its size, no UK county received more: 13.7 new records per 1,000 records.
Which towns in Greater Manchester get the most new businesses?
Greater Manchester is ten metropolitan boroughs, but our records carry the town on the address, so the table lists towns. Stretford, Sale and Altrincham are all in the borough of Trafford. Wythenshawe is part of the City of Manchester but appears on addresses under its own name, so it is not in the Manchester figure.
| Town | New records | All records | New per 1,000 records | Phone | Website information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | 588 | 39,235 | 15.0 | 74.1% | 63.3% |
| Bolton | 139 | 10,400 | 13.4 | 82.5% | 59.1% |
| Salford | 96 | 7,746 | 12.4 | 67.8% | 64.9% |
| Stockport | 79 | 8,485 | 9.3 | 81.5% | 62.6% |
| Oldham | 79 | 5,473 | 14.4 | 80.5% | 54.2% |
| Stretford | 74 | 4,893 | 15.1 | 71.8% | 67.5% |
| Rochdale | 70 | 5,711 | 12.3 | 83.0% | 55.8% |
| Bury | 56 | 4,552 | 12.3 | 83.1% | 61.1% |
| Wigan | 46 | 4,527 | 10.2 | 77.7% | 59.0% |
| Sale | 39 | 3,032 | 12.9 | 81.3% | 66.9% |
| Ashton-under-Lyne | 39 | 2,930 | 13.3 | 78.6% | 55.8% |
| Altrincham | 37 | 3,107 | 11.9 | 81.5% | 72.4% |
| Wythenshawe | 35 | 2,731 | 12.8 | 77.2% | 59.6% |
| Leigh | 33 | 2,601 | 12.7 | 78.9% | 61.1% |
| Middleton | 18 | 2,288 | 7.9 | 80.9% | 57.4% |
Manchester leads with 588, about 20 a day; Bolton is second (139). Salford overtakes Stockport: 96 new records against 79, from a smaller base (7,746 records to 8,485). Relative to size, Stretford (15.1) and Manchester (15.0) received the most new records per 1,000, and Stockport (9.3) and Middleton (7.9) the fewest.
Which sectors are opening?
| Sector | New records | All records | New per 1,000 records |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hair and beauty salons | 76 | 7,694 | 9.9 |
| Construction companies | 66 | 2,568 | 25.7 |
| Restaurants | 65 | 4,706 | 13.8 |
| Cafés | 34 | 1,876 | 18.1 |
| Supermarkets and grocery stores | 31 | 3,010 | 10.3 |
| Auto repair shops | 29 | 2,377 | 12.2 |
| Bars and pubs | 19 | 1,916 | 9.9 |
| Bakeries and pastry shops | 17 | 745 | 22.8 |
| Car dealers | 16 | 1,092 | 14.7 |
| Clothing stores | 13 | 1,229 | 10.6 |
| Gyms and fitness studios | 11 | 1,046 | 10.5 |
| Pharmacies | 6 | 744 | 8.1 |
| Real estate agencies | <5 | 1,093 | — |
| Dentists and dental clinics | <5 | 876 | — |
Three sectors are close at the top: hair and beauty salons (76), construction companies (66), and restaurants (65). Relative to size, construction companies lead (25.7 new records per 1,000), then bakeries and pastry shops (22.8) — and because new construction records carry a location less often than most, the county count for this sector is, if anything, low. Estate agents and dental practices had fewer than five new records each — too few to read on their own.
How does it compare with the other metropolitan counties?
| County | New records | All records | New per 1,000 records | Rank by new records (of 150) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Manchester | 2,249 | 163,814 | 13.7 | 2 |
| West Midlands | 1,408 | 150,876 | 9.3 | 3 |
| West Yorkshire | 1,130 | 131,356 | 8.6 | 4 |
| Merseyside | 631 | 71,864 | 8.8 | 10 |
| South Yorkshire | 630 | 68,446 | 9.2 | 11 |
| Tyne and Wear | 415 | 54,426 | 7.6 | 18 |
Greater Manchester leads the six metropolitan counties both in new records and relative to size; the next-highest rate is the West Midlands (9.3). The West Midlands, with 8% fewer records in our database, received 37% fewer new ones (1,408). Both are in this series: the West Midlands and, across the Pennines, West Yorkshire.
What it means if you sell to new businesses in Greater Manchester
- Manchester daily, the boroughs weekly. Manchester averaged about 20 new records a day; Bolton, the next town, about 32 a week. Outside the city, search a borough’s towns together — Stretford, Sale and Altrincham for Trafford, for example — rather than one town at a time.
- Builders’ merchants, plant and tool hire, trade insurance. 66 new construction company records, the highest rate of any sector here. These businesses often serve an area and can have more than one record: group by phone number before you count. The sector in more detail: new construction companies.
- Salon suppliers and booking software. 76 new hair and beauty salon records, about 18 a week. Across all 7,694 salon records in the county, 54.7% list a phone number but no website information. More: new hair and beauty salons.
- Food and drink. Restaurants, cafés, bakeries and bars together: 135 new records, about 32 a week. The method: how to find new restaurants and cafés to sell to.
The city of Manchester on its own, with the phone and website shares of its new records, next to London, Birmingham and Glasgow: new businesses in UK cities.
How to pull a list for Greater Manchester
- Location: United Kingdom, the county Greater Manchester, then a town such as Bolton or Stretford — the same address locality as in the table.
- Section and filters: newly opened businesses (the last 30 days, updated daily), then a sector or a narrower category. Categories are each record’s own, so “barber shop” or “tyre shop” can be a list of its own. Phone — has, for a call list; Website — none, for web design prospects.
- Count, then open: searching and counting are free on every plan; a credit is spent only when you first open a record, and a CSV or XLSX export counts as an open (pricing). Save the search and new matches arrive by email every day.