NEARLY 2,000 new businesses were created in the Forest and the surrounding counties last year, according to latest figures.

There were 318 start-ups in the Forest last year – a figure that lags well behind the other districts of Gloucestershire – with the county seeing a total of 5,639 new companies formed.

In Monmouthshire there were 560 new businesses and the figure for Herefordshire was 853. Taken together with the start-ups in the Forest that makes a total of 1,831.

The other districts in Gloucestershire ranged from 610 in Stroud to 1,659 in South Gloucestershire.

Among the newly self-employed is Sarah Jones who has set up a burger van on the main road near Bream.

Sarah was among a number of people made redundant at local company Forest Lubricants in December last year.

Following the redundancy she decided to set up her own business which is called Sarah’s Pit Stop.

She said: “Being made redundant and having some health issues, I decided to set up my own business.

“It’s started pretty well and we are getting regular customers stopping by and I’ve had some very nice comments about the quality of the food.”

The figures on business start-ups was put together by Inform Direct Review using data from Companies House and the Office of National Statistics.

John Korchak, director of operations at Inform Direct said: “These figures underline the positive the positive entre-

preneurial culture that fosters new company formations and drives economic growth.”