A new study of companies set up in the UK in 2014 has shown that Hertfordshire enjoyed a bumper year for entrepreneurialism – with 13,336 new businesses registered last year.

This means that there are 89,452 companies currently operating out of Hertfordshire, 5.7 per cent more than there were last year.

Within Hertfordshire, Hertsmere led with 1,849, followed by Watford with 1,822 and St Albans with 1,712.

Although the county ranks behind London and Essex, Hertfordshire remains ahead of neighbouring Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Cambridgeshire in terms of both new companies formed and total companies based in the county.