SWANSEA: The city makes the UK top 20 for people trying to turn a hobby into a business

Swansea has been named among the UK’s top 20 cities for people trying to turn a passion into a business.

The ranking comes from company formation firm 1st Formations, which looked at how often people in each city search Google for phrases like “how to start a clothing company” or “how to make money from photography”.

Swansea comes 20th on that list. Cardiff is 11th. London is first, followed by Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds.

Clothing brands beat everything else

The single most-searched passion business in Britain is a clothing brand.

After that it goes digital. Becoming a YouTuber is second, influencing third, and content creation and blogging share fourth.

Podcasting is sixth, then making money from travel, writing, and photography and tutoring tied for ninth.

And then the ones people actually do at kitchen tables

Further down the twenty, the ambitions get more homespun.

Gaming is 11th, art and music share 12th, then candles at 14 and cake baking at 15.

Dog walking is 16th, painting 17th, crochet 18th, videography 19th and hairdressing 20th.

Kitty Haggar and Megan Coombs did it for real this summer, winning bursaries to turn their Carmarthen School of Art weaving into businesses. Haggar is saving for a £7,000 loom to make lampshades from her parents’ home in Tenby.

Nearly half of us have a side hustle

The firm says searches for “how to start a side business” are up 40% in a year, and “how to start a small business” up 30%.

It points to separate figures from Finder suggesting 46% of UK adults now have a side hustle, up from 39% in 2025.

Graeme Donnelly, the firm’s founder and chief executive, said people were no longer thinking about entrepreneurship as “creating the next big company”.

“It’s increasingly about building a business around something you genuinely enjoy,” he said.

His advice to anyone tempted is to test the idea before spending money on it, and not to hand in their notice on day one.

There is money in Swansea for anyone serious

Swansea Council is running two grants aimed at exactly this. The High Street Helper offers up to £30,000 towards opening a shop or café in the city centre or district areas including Morriston, Mumbles, Gorseinon and Uplands.

The second, the Launchpad Bursary, funds a short run at a market stall or pop-up so people can test whether anyone actually wants to buy the thing before setting up a company. Applications go through StartupGrant@swansea.gov.uk.