Ok, so for many business Central London represents the ideal home, but you can’t deny the facts: With high demand and low availability, businesses are faced with a perfect storm and rental rates are sky-rocketing - last year the West End became the most expensive place on Earth in which to rent an office.

However, for businesses willing to look beyond the border of London’s Zone Two, and maybe even the M25, there are a number of superb alternatives to the capital. Below are just four of these, which making hugely compelling cases for you to base a business outside London:

Oxford

Amongst its iconic dreaming spires and its bike-laden streets, within Oxford lies a beating heart of entrepreneurial genius. With a world-leading science, park the city makes an excellent home for businesses in the science and technology sectors in particular. There is also, of course, one of the world’s finest universities and the exceptional and expanding Oxford Brookes; ensuring a top-class talent pool right on your doorstep.

Oxford has one of the best universities in the world as well as a thriving science and technology cluster

From Oxford station you’ll find regular and direct services to a number of stations in the centre of the capital; so you’re arguably not missing much in terms of your location. Most importantly, you’ll probably find significantly lower prices. One desk in a serviced office should come in, on average, less than £230 a month in Oxford. This compares to over £500 in London!

Brighton

Practically could be called Soho-by-the-sea, which might be a touch of an exaggeration but you can’t deny the popular south coast town’s appeal to the SME community. Particularly popular with digital and tech startups, Brighton is one of the UK’s centres of innovation (around 65% of businesses are listed as ‘”innovation active”).

The town plays host to world-leading digital marketing conferences such as SEO Brighton, where the great and good of the digital world descend upon this quirky corner of Sussex.

Brighton has sun, sea and is an emerging capital for online innovation

Much like Oxford, Brighton remains within an hour or so of the capital, making it an easy trip should you need to head into London. Office space here can represent a considerable saving too; again the average price of a serviced office desk is around £230 a month, less than half what it is in the capital.

Reading

Superbly located in the M4 corridor, Reading is one of southern England’s commercial and retail centres. It is also the top area in the UK for economic success and wellbeing! This has helped attract some of the biggest international businesses you’re likely to find: Microsoft, Pepsi and ING are but three of the giants proud to call Reading home.

Indeed, many of these are drawn in by the appealing combination of low rental costs and proximity to the capital: You can be in the centre of London in less than thirty minutes on many rail services, while the average price of a serviced office desk is around £225.

Reading is an entrepreneurial hub in its own right, but it also enjoys fast links to the Capital

Birmingham

Last but not least, one of the UK’s industrial titans, Birmingham is once again rearing its head as the place to be for savvy businesses. The city has an economy worth almost £10 billion, with over 70,000 companies (1,500 international) based in the area. Birmingham also boasts more miles of Canals than Venice (of course) and possibly the UK’s friendliest accent; what more could a business want?

Birmingham does represent our most distant option, with London over an hour away by train. However this might not matter soon if HS2 is given the go ahead, with Birmingham set to be the major beneficiary of high-speed rail services to the capital. It is also the cheapest option on our list, serviced desk spaces cost little over £220 on average in the UK’s second city.

Birmingham is big, bustling and friendly - plus it's right in the middle of England

For many, Central London represents a prestige location and offers connections that can’t be beat. For other savvy businesses however, Oxford, Brighton, Reading and Birmingham represent serious alternatives and four massively strong reasons not to base your business in the centre of the capital.

Peter Ames is Web Editor for OfficeGenie.co.uk, a UK-based desk and office space marketplace