Lending Lenny Guides Check what you can get
South West · Q3 2026 data

Business funding in Plymouth

Plymouth has 8,183 trading companies. 1,257 of them (15.4%) have secured borrowing registered at Companies House, in line with the South West at 15.4% and the UK at 14.0%.

Need funding for a Plymouth business?

Tell Lending Lenny what you need in two minutes. One specialist broker, no credit check to start.

Check what you can get
8,183trading companies
15.4%have secured borrowing
339new companies in Q3 2026
3.1%late filing accounts

How Plymouth's sectors borrow

The biggest sectors in Plymouth, and the share of companies in each with a lender's charge registered against them. Real estate & lettings borrows most against its assets here, at 48%.

Real estate & lettings1,041 companies
48%
Construction & trades977 companies
8%
Professional services895 companies
8%
Retail634 companies
11%
Restaurants, pubs & cafes532 companies
8%
Tech, media & telecoms522 companies
2%
Business support services425 companies
8%
Manufacturing391 companies
14%

Older businesses borrow more

Lenders like a track record. In Plymouth, the share of companies with secured borrowing climbs with age, which is why a young business often starts with asset finance or a smaller unsecured loan.

Under 2 years2,379 companies
4%
2 to 5 years1,636 companies
11%
5 to 10 years1,769 companies
17%
10 to 20 years1,554 companies
19%
Over 20 years845 companies
43%

Who's lending in the South West

The 172 new lender charges we tracked against the South West companies in Q3 2026, by type of lender. Property, bridging & buy-to-let made up the largest share, as most mortgages on company-owned property are registered as charges.

Property, bridging & buy-to-let
40%
Specialist & alternative lenders
19%
Banks
15%
Cash advance & revenue-based
1%
Asset finance
1%

Funding that fits Plymouth businesses

Plain-English guides to the kinds of funding that suit Plymouth's biggest sectors.

Elsewhere in the South West

Source: every live company on the Companies House register at 2026-10-01, analysed by DueLead for its Q3 2026 Pulse report on Plymouth. "Secured borrowing" means at least one outstanding charge, a lender's security registered at Companies House, so unsecured loans and overdrafts don't show. Trading companies means active limited companies, LLPs and PLCs, excluding dormant companies, financial services firms and public bodies. Sole traders aren't on the register, so they aren't counted.