Edinburgh is 'best place for firms to be based'

The most ideal city for accountancy firms' headquarters is Edinburgh, a report by a business travel management company has revealed.

According to Portman Travel, Edinburgh is the best place for a firm to be headquartered and do business, based on the city's attractive features, good transport infrastructure and skilled workforce.

The city beat other the top business centres of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow according to criteria listed by accountancy firm bosses.

The study identified the seven key factors bosses look for when deciding where to base their businesses, and ranked these against the 65 largest towns and cities from across the UK, all of which have a population of over 100,000.

The surprise entries, however, included Bradford, coming in second; and smaller cities such as Norwich, Nottingham, Cardiff and Bristol, which even came ahead of larger cities such as Liverpool and Leeds.

The top and bottom 10 locations overall were:

Top 10 locations, bottom 10 locations

1.Edinburgh, 56. Watford

2.Bradford, 57.Blackburn

3.Manchester, 58.Cambridge

4.London, 59.Slough

5.Birmingham, 60.Eastbourne

6.Norwich, 61.York

7.Nottingham, 62.Oldham

8.Glasgow, 63.Gloucester

9.Cardiff, 64.Colchester

10.Bristol, 65.Sutton Coldfield