Basingstoke: the quiet powerhouse, in figures

Basingstoke has a habit of being underrated. People know the roundabouts and the M3, and assume everyone drives to London in the morning. The official figures describe something else: one of Hampshire's largest concentrations of businesses, a business park with more than 180 firms on it, and median pay above the South East's. This piece sets out what the numbers say, what the council plans, and where Basingstoke's business people meet.

The size of it

In the UK Business Counts for March 2026, Nomis counted 7,020 enterprises in Basingstoke and Deane:

• 6,265 micro businesses with nine or fewer people (89.2%)
• 610 small (10 to 49)
• 115 medium (50 to 249)
• 35 large, with 250 or more

There were 8,260 local units, the workplaces themselves. That is more than any other district in our recent articles, ahead of Test Valley (5,800) and Eastleigh (5,350).

The borough had 85,000 employee jobs in 2024, and 95,000 jobs in all. Its jobs density was 0.78, below the South East's 0.85, which fits the commuting reputation: more working-age residents than jobs. But the jobs that are here pay well. The median full-time gross weekly pay for jobs in the borough was £806.30 in 2025, against £775.80 for the South East and £766.60 for Great Britain.

In money terms, the ONS's regional accounts, released on 23 September 2026, give Basingstoke and Deane's gross value added as £8,514 million in 2024, up from £8,113 million in 2023, at current prices. The 2024 figure is provisional.

Who works here

The Nomis employee figures for 2024 show the two largest groups of jobs in the borough:

• Wholesale and retail trade: 15,000 jobs, 17.6% of employee jobs
• Human health and social work: 12,000 jobs, 14.1%

Those are the everyday employers: shops, distributors, the hospital, care providers. Around them sit the offices on Basing View and the business parks, and the firms that supply all of them. The framework also notes that the borough's "two colleges" are "attracting 6,000 students annually", a steady supply of apprentices and new staff for local employers. Skills are also the theme of the borough's 2026 business week, below.

What the council says the economy is

The council's Future Economy Framework 2025 to 2030 lists the sectors it wants to grow: "advanced manufacturing and engineering, construction, pharma and med-tech, financial and business services and digital tech". Its at-a-glance panel gives a slightly different business count, "Home to 7,315 businesses providing 85,000 jobs", because it uses an earlier year of the same register.

It also lists recent investment, in its own words:

• "Great Wolf Resorts' £300 million investment in a hotel, indoor water park, and conference facilities"
• "£18.1 million at St Modwen Park for manufacturing and £30 million to refurbish Mountbatten House, now PLANT"
• "Construction on Manydown North, a new community of 3,520 homes … began in January 2025"

The framework says the borough's population of 187,900 is "expected to reach 197,300 by 2030". More homes means more local customers and, in time, more people starting businesses close to where they live.

Basing View

The best-known address is Basing View, which the council describes as "a 65-acre business park situated in the heart of Basingstoke". It says "around 4,500 people currently work at the park" across "more than 180 national and international businesses", including Network Rail, The AA and Eli Lilly and Company, which has a 45,000 sq ft headquarters building there. The council also notes that the Village Hotel "invested £20 million in the hotel which has created more than 100 new permanent jobs".

For a small firm, that is a lot of potential customers within a short drive. The register puts it plainly: 35 businesses with 250 or more people, in a borough of 7,020.

A business week of its own

Basingstoke now has a business week. The Hampshire Chamber of Commerce wrote in July 2026 that the 2026 edition, with the theme Skills for the Future, follows "the first Basingstoke Business Week last year". The partners it names include Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Basingstoke College of Technology, the Chamber, the M3 Job Club, Destination Basingstoke and the local MP, Luke Murphy. Business weeks like this are a good time to try a first event: there is more on than usual in one week, and every event has a shared theme to talk about. Destination Basingstoke's INSPIRE Business Awards close the week.

What this means if you're going to events

• There is a group for most diaries. The regular dates we list in Basingstoke include two weekly referral chapters, one of them a brunch, a connect group and a group for women in business. Each listing gives its own times, so pick the one that fits your week.
• Big employers send people, but small firms run the rooms. Nearly nine in ten local businesses have fewer than ten people. Expect owners who do everything, and people from larger firms looking for local suppliers.
• Hook and Tadley are close. Several Basingstoke-area groups and the awards meet just outside the town. See Hook and Tadley, or the North Hampshire area page.
• Learn something while you are there. Workshops, like the business support session below, are an easy first event because the talk gives everyone something to discuss afterwards. Our guide to your first business event has more.

Where to start

The events below are Basingstoke's listed dates at the last build, drawn from the organisers' own listings. For everything in the town, see the Basingstoke town page and its breakfasts; for the whole county, this week.