Stoke-on-Trent has been named the UK’s top city for manufacturing growth potential in a new report.
Software company Unleashed placed Stoke-on-Trent at the top of a table in its UK Regional Manufacturing Growth Powerhouse Report 2026, outranking cities including Leeds and Birmingham.
The study scored the five largest manufacturing towns and cities in each region of the UK on factors such as workforce size, total manufacturing units and available industrial space.
Local broadband speeds were also analysed to determine how well cities can support advanced manufacturing technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Stoke-on-Trent placed first with an index score of 64.2 out of 100 compared to 63.9 achieved by Leeds and Birmingham’s 60.9.
The report reads: “Fast broadband (164 Mbps), plentiful industrial space, and proximity to major manufacturers like JCB and Michelin make Stoke the UKs top emerging manufacturing city. Its connectivity is laying the foundations for AI-enabled advanced manufacturing.”
Stoke-on-Trent topped the table for its average download speed and ranked fourth nationally for warehousing space with 11.164 m2 per 10,000 residents.
The findings have been welcomed by Stoke-on-Trent South and the Villages MP Dr Allison Gardner, who said they underline the case she has been making to Government for greater investment in the city and the A50/A500 Growth Corridor.
She said: “This report is welcome recognition of what I have been saying since my election: Stoke-on-Trent has enormous manufacturing potential.
“We have the businesses, expertise and workforce. Now we need the investment in infrastructure, skills and innovation to turn that potential into growth and good jobs.
“I will continue to make the case to Government for investment in the A50/A500 Growth Corridor and for Stoke-on-Trent to be recognised as the UK’s advanced ceramics cluster.
“We have the potential to be a major part of Britain’s reindustrialisation. Now we need Government investment to match that potential.”
Unleashed has also used data from 1,322 SME manufacturers to compare regions of the UK against operational metrics of revenue, profit margin, lead times, stock on hand and purchasing costs.
The South East came out top, and the West Midlands was placed third. Although revenue in the West Midlands was among the lowest, the region scored highly on profitability, with firms retaining 36p per pound.
Despite holding above-average stock levels (£201,829), the area’s supplier lead times of under 20 days were the fastest of any region.
Nationally, Unleash’s data shows average sales revenue of £484,626 per business in Q1 of 2026 and a national average gross profit margin of 33%. The national average supplier lead time is 26 days.
