Stockport town centre has seen a lot of change over the past few years and now businesses are relocating to the centre. Rhys Owen, Leasing Director, Orbit Developments shares his views on Stockport becoming a business hub.

Whilst the face of Stockport town centre has physically changed over the past few years, as a major commercial property landlord in Stockport Orbit has seen an ‘invisible’ shift too, quietly boosting the positive perception of the town centre.

Stockport is presenting itself as a prospering, well connected and forward-thinking town centre, and this has started to show with many of the businesses looking for and taking office space relocating from outside the town centre and the borough.

Over the past 12 months, we have seen continued growth in the trend for businesses outside the centre to move into it, with the likes of Green Monkey AV and Aqua Design both coming from around a mile outside the town centre.

Similarly, Rush Insurance and Mechatech have both come from further afield; Old Trafford and Macclesfield respectively. The companies praised the transformation of the town centre, and its wide variety of amenities was also a contributing factor in their decisions to relocate.

There is another story behind activity in the last 12 months, a continuing trend of growth of existing town centre customers and the recruitment that comes with it.

We’ve seen a greater number of customers growing into larger offices such as Grassroots Recruitment, Guardian Education and Safety to Business and they aren’t alone, with Hatters and Bellyflop TV upsizing their office space and taking on new staff to cope with additional workloads.

So, whilst the new developments are a physical reminder of change in Stockport, it’s important we analyse the impact the investments are having on the town and the resulting affect on the businesses being attracted and growing within the town – businesses who will hopefully become Stockport’s biggest advocates.