The facts

Adjacent to the City, the Shoreditch area of Hackney is the most obvious location for companies looking to enter the City’s supply chain. The area has been identified by Hackney Council as a priority location for new SME business space. 
A 2008 study by cebr, commissioned by the City Fringe Partnership, revealed that firms in the City of London meet only 4-5% of their procurement needs from firms in the City Fringe, out of a total City firm spend of around £13.3 billion on goods and services every year. The report estimates that this share could be increased to 13%. Businesses based in Hackney would be ideally placed to take advantage of these opportunities however the same cebr study determined that almost 45% of SMEs in the city fringes felt that their lack of contacts within larger city organisations was a barrier to business.