Almost 1,000 businesses shut up shop

Office for National Statistics data shows 920 businesses closed in the area during 2021 – up from 905 in 2020 and 1,015 in 2019.

Nationally, 327,000 businesses closed in 2021 – a nine per cent increase on the year before and the highest number since 2017.

In Northumberland, 1,065 new firms started trading – among 360,000 national start-ups – a nine per cent increase on the 333,000 the year before and the highest since 2016.

It meant there were a total of 10,485 businesses active in the area in 2021 – an increase from 10,355 the year before.

Business leadership group the Institute of Directors (IoD) said that, while businesses open and close all the time, the uncertainty caused by the pandemic "complicated" the landscape across the country.

Kitty Ussher, IoD chief economist, said sole traders undertaking casual work – including delivery couriers, which saw a boom during the pandemic – and self-employed people conducting freelance work, are included in the official statistics and are more likely to be created or closed in a short period of time.

She said: "The picture is then complicated by the impact of the pandemic, which not only led to a temporary increase in unemployment and so increased the number of people looking for freelance work, but also caused a change in consumer spending patterns.

"All of this led to particularly high churn rates as the economy adjusted in 2021."