Ranked: the UK’s co-working hotspots

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are missing out on the co-working boom, with just 13% of the UK’s co-working spaces being located in the three countries. England dominates, with an 87% share of the co-working universe. The figures, compiled by CoworkingCafe, outline the growth of the co-working sector in the post-pandemic world. Its Coworking Industry Report Q2 2024 shows that of the 2,806 co-working spaces across the UK, 2,460 are in England, 188 in Scotland, 102 in Wales and 56 in Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland has a total of 210 co-working spaces, almost half (101) of which are in Dublin. In terms of individual cities, London holds the top position in the rankings, with nearly 800 spaces. It is followed by Manchester with 69 spaces and Bristol with 52. Bristol outperformed bigger cities, including Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds and Southampton, in terms of volume of co-working spaces. Outside England, Edinburgh took the top spot with 44 spaces to snatch fifth place in the UK-wide ranking. It was followed in Scotland by Glasgow in seventh place with 39 spaces and Aberdeen in 15th with 18 spaces. Cardiff and Belfast represented Wales and Northern Ireland on the leaderboard with 33 and 26 flex working spaces respectively. The cost of co-working When it comes to the cost of co-working spaces, the report shows a wide variation across both location and type of space. The overall UK median monthly cost per person of a dedicated desk hit £215 in Q2, with open workspaces costing an average of £155 and virtual offices £40, while meeting rooms cost £25 per hour. Wales had the highest cost of open workspaces of any UK nation at £220 per month, some 42% higher than the UK average. Scotland offered the cheapest open workspaces at £143 per month. Unsurprisingly, co-working spaces in London generally had the highest median prices, with open workspaces costing £250 per month, virtual office memberships at £99 per month and meeting rooms priced at £45 per hour. However, the cost of a dedicated desk in Brighton & Hove cost £35 more per month than in the capital, due to factors including high local demand driven by a robust remote work culture and a smaller pool of available spaces. The big five According to CoWorkingCafe’s analysis, the sector is dominated by five key players – Fora, Workspace Group, The Boutique Workplace Company, WeWork and Landmark Space – which together represent almost 10% of the total UK market. Fora leads among the five with 60 co-working spaces, followed by Workspace Group with 55, The Boutique Workplace Company with 38, WeWork with 37 and Landmark Space with 35. The big five’s dominance is largely restricted to London, however, finds the report, with Fora having just four spaces outside London and WeWork just six. Photo © Alto/Rex/Shutterstock