BUSINESS start-ups may have dropped drastically all over Britain, but Yorkshire is bucking the trend, according to newly-published statistics from Barclays Bank.

East Anglia lost 32 per cent of its start-ups over the first six months of this year, compared with the first half of last year, the East Midlands and Wales both dipped by 24 per cent and the South West was down by 23 per cent, yet new entrepreneurs in Yorkshire were UP by 11 per cent.

Apart from the West Midlands - up by four per cent - Yorkshire was the only county to record net gains in new small businesses.

There were 16,360 start-ups between January and June this year compared with 14,810 over the same period in the year 2000.

Barclays believes the reason that Yorkshire fared better on venture launches has something to do with a general increase of ten per cent over the same period for production - manufacturing, mining and quarrying and utilities.

The Barclays survey report states: "The weakening of sterling against the dollar will undoubtedly have provided some relief to the manufacturing sector, where export sales are extremely important."

While manufacturing output had declined across the board, start-ups in this sector had increased by ten per cent, which was reflected in Yorkshire. Particularly lively and doing well were those which began as small, specialist niche operations.

A spokesperson for Barclays said: "We know that if anyone has been made redundant from manufacturing they are likely to start up again in the field they know best and in which they are comfortable.

"With the lowering of sterling's value against the dollar the economic climate for these people tends to be more favourable."

Nationally, the numbers of people not prepared to dip their business toe into troubled waters seems to be accelerating. The 83,570 new businesses started in England and Wales during the second quarter of 2001 is 16 per cent down on the same time last year.

But the good news is that of those that have started, fewer are failing. Between April and June this year 101,180 new firms closed - a three per cent fall on the same period last year - in sharp contrast to ten years ago.