When, why and how should you relocate? Rosie Niven talks to small business owners who have dared to make the move

Small businesses used to stick close to their roots, developing a customer base in just one part of the country. But the growth of digital technology has given growing SMEs the opportunity to become more mobile and to consider relocation.

The UK is a relatively small country with a good broadband infrastructure. However, many businesses still approach relocation with trepidation, mindful of the logistical challenges of making such a change.

Crowdfunder UK made the decision to relocate when it moved from London to Cornwall in January 2013.

Swapping proximity to clients, transport and its recruitment base for an office with a sea view might seem an unorthodox business decision, but for Crowdfunder UK it is paying off.

The 23-strong team in Newquay include staff who moved down from London, along with others recruited from the local area.

Phil Geraghty, the company's managing director and one of those who relocated from London, said the move had been beneficial for many reasons.

"Part of the draw of coming here is that people can move their lunch breaks around with the tide so that they can go surfing.

"Everyone comes back to the office refreshed and ready to go. It beats sitting at your desk and eating a sandwich, which is what I was doing in London for many years."

Other benefits include lower rent and the proximity to partners at Plymouth University – one of the reasons for their move.

Crowdfunder UK would not have been as successful had it stayed in the capital, where small companies can become "swamped" with everything else that is going on, he says.

"Recruitment is slightly different," he adds. "I ran a team in London for a long time: you would get a lot of applications.

"Here recruitment tends to require a lot of networking, but I find when you do get someone they stay. In London retention of technical staff is hard."

Another business that relocated to the south-west is Treetots Yoga, which moved from Manchester to Devon when its founder Jessica Healy decided she wanted to be nearer her parents.

She found re-establishing her business difficult initially because she was unfamiliar with the market for baby and toddler yoga and pregnancy massage in south Devon.

"It was really hard," she says. "Culturally things are very different to Manchester. "It is much more relaxed here. Everything stops for the summer unless you work in the tourist industry."

On the plus side, Healy found there was much less competition in Devon than in Manchester. As a result she established regular classes at a nursery, which she never had the opportunity to do in the north-west. "It has given me a chance to diversify," she says.

Manchester has also been a destination for some relocating companies, including medical sciences business Zilico which moved across the Pennines from Sheffield in late 2012.

At the time the company had just finished a multi-centre trial, was looking for a bigger hub and wanted to be based closer to an international airport, said Zilico's chief executive Sameer Kothari.

The move to Manchester Science Park helped Zilico access private equity finance and support from north-west-based NHS trusts. "I can't say it was specifically because we were based in Manchester, but it did help," says Kothari.

Grant funding is sometimes available, particularly for companies that relocate to regions with higher-than-average unemployment rates.

But one business owner who failed to access a relocation grant sounds a note of caution.

After the business moved from the north of England to Wales, its owner encountered a series of setbacks, most notably not being able to secure the grant she needed for the business to grow.

While she praises the support of the locals at her new location, she has found the local authority to be unsupportive in comparison with the council at her previous base.

"Relocate with care," she advises. "You have got to be so sure that it's right for your business."

But for some companies, relocation goes smoothly and is simply part of starting a new phase in the development of the business. Motion Simulation, a company that designs and builds racing and flight simulators, relocated to Slough in Berkshire from Crewkerne in Somerset last year.

It is now based in a business unit at Slough Trading Estate, where the team is preparing to market and sell its product and exploring opening a centre to host corporate away-days based around their simulators.

But the company only moved to the Somerset town from Slough a few years ago. Motion Simulation's founder and director Jonathan Bell said a visit from a client from Saudi Arabia to Crewkerne had cemented their decision to move nearer to Heathrow Airport.

He recommends that a small business should regularly assess whether its current set-up is working and not be scared about relocating if the positives outweigh the negatives.

"I would not care if we had to move every six months as long as it was a clean move," he says.

Like Bell, social media consultant Veronica Pullen of the Isle of Wight-based Word of Mouth Local believes that businesses should not fear relocations – especially if they can move as much business online as possible beforehand to minimise the disruption.

"My advice, regardless of how you get your clients, is put a proportion of your budget into online marketing. Even if you are deli and reliant on walk-in customers, by moving a proportion of your business online, your whole pool of prospects will not disappear."

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