Central Working has doubled the size of its first Manchester co-working space and welcomes the likes of Tech City UK’s TechNorth to its list of occupants.
The London-based company again teamed up with Barclays for the launch of the space back in November last year and is now also offering a home to the DotForge and Ignite accelerator programmes.
Manchester saw a record 13,000 startups created in the city last year and is increasingly looking like a more affordable option for smaller companies looking for talent and space at a reasonable rate.
But Central Working CEO James Layfield says there is no desire in the city to create a dedicated tech area or replicate the Tech City story up north.
“We originally launched in Manchester because we recognised the incredible entrepreneurial spirit and potential of the city’s start-up community,” Layfield told Tech City News.
“Naturally Manchester’s tech scene is at an earlier stage than London’s, but there’s no desire amongs our Deansgate members to simply replicate the Tech City model. Instead they want to draw out the best practices seen in the capital and use that to create Manchester’s own innovative, integrated tech community.”
“There’s certainly no ambition to segregate one area of the city as ‘the tech corner’, whether that’s in the Northern Quarter or elsewhere. It would be great to bring the whole city with us on this journey.”