MOST Gwent regions are doing better at creating new businesses than other areas of Wales, new research has found.

Research from BankSearch, for Lloyds Bank, found there has been a 26 per cent drop in the number of businesses starting up in Wales in the past five years. Across Wales, 23,195 business start-ups were recorded in the year to November 2011, while 17,089 new businesses were recorded in the 12 months prior to November 2016.

The figures show all regions in Gwent except for Caerphilly have seen a smaller decline than that. Blaenau Gwent is the region which has seen the smallest drop (8 per cent), from 364 to 335 in the same period of the time.

It’s followed by Newport, which has been hit by an 8.5 per cent decline, from 941 to 861, and Torfaen, which has seen a 21.1 per cent reduction, from 522 to 412.

Gavin Horton, 39, of Bettws, opened Horton’s in Millennium Walk, Newport, last December. The ex-steelman, who started with British Steel at Llanwern in 1995 as a technical apprentice, said that he thinks it’s a “great time” to set up a business.

He said: “There is a lot of help available if you look for it and ask for it. When I have asked for help, I’ve never been turned away.”

Mr Horton, who set up the coffee shop with an investment of £200,000, said that it’s a bit quiet at this time of the year, but that the business is going in the right direction.

In terms of creating new businesses, with a 23.5 per cent drop, Monmouthshire was a lot closer to the Wales wide average. A total of 808 businesses were created in the year to November 2011, compared to 618 in the 12 months prior to November 2016.

With a 27.6 per cent decline, Caerphilly is the only region in Gwent above the Wales average. It has been hit with a drop from 1,083 to 784.

A Newport council spokeswoman said the city is a “great location” for business to start and grow. She said: “Newport City Council has launched a £60,000 development fund to help new businesses set up in the city centre. The first successful recipients of a shop rent subsidy received their grant and opened in November.”

“Start-up business grants are also available in partnership with UK Steel Enterprise.”

“ In addition, the council and partners are hosting pop-up business schools which aim to excite and inspire people who want to venture into business. It complements the traditional business support on offer by motivating people to start or grow their business and feeds into mentoring and support schemes.

Newport already has an enviable track record of top organisations, centres of excellence and key government departments making Newport their home.

The city has seen the positive effect of the award winning Friars Walk which has attracted both national and local retailers and is now almost fully let.

And Newport Now, the Business Improvement District (BID), is also working to improve the trading conditions for city centre businesses.

A spokesman for Monmouthshire council said data from the Welsh Government StatsWales service showed 325 new businesses started in Monmouthshire in 2011, increasing to 455 in 2015 which represents a 40 per cent increase over this period.

He said in 2015, Monmouthshire had the highest rate of business start-ups of any Welsh local authority.