[scottallison]

I completely disagree with this, simply because there is already a fantastic and large hub in London. There's hundreds of startups here already and proximity to VCs, in one of the world's best cities. It makes a lot more sense to build on something that's already strong, and make it stronger.

I think one of the smartest things this Government has done is to recognise that and ignore calls from people outside London to create something elsewhere. But yes, London is frigging expensive. That said, you can live close to, but outside London and it's no more expensive than the other places you mention.

[nickthedart]

I acknowledge London is in many ways a fantastic place to live and grow a business. Its great for the UK if we can have a growing startup hub based in London. However, while many startups will flourish in London, so many others would be completely dead in the water if they tried to grow while facing London costs. Living just outside London is surely more costly than living in a comparable area of a city further north, when you take into account a rail season ticket? Also, commuting times get silly. There's loads of talent scattered across the UK. Whats the point of trying to get that talent to move somewhere where everyone else already wants to live, and quality of life in many ways is poor as result? Silicon Valley is different because they actually pay enough for people to live there. Maybe that's the answer - startups need to start paying £70k to developers in Shoreditch when the same person would have been happier being paid £20k to live in Derby? Thanks for the response though- its interesting to debate these things. :)