BOLTON has been revealed as one of the top 10 locations in the country for business growth.

During the last six months businesses in the town grew by 1.1 per cent -- more than Manchester -- and outstripping many rivals in the prosperous South-east.

The Royal Mail's Business Barometer placed Bolton in 8th place for growth for the last six months, a spectacular leap of 32 places from the last study at the end of 2003.

These figures are based on an analysis of the UK's top 100 towns and cities by business population from the full list of 1,497 postal towns. The top 100 towns account for nearly 50 per cent of the total business population.

The business population data was compiled by business information group D&B, formerly known as Dun & Bradstreet, as well as from Royal Mail's own data.

Paul Foster, Bolton Policy Manager at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce said: "We are delighted to see that the business population is growing in Bolton.

"This proves that Bolton is an attractive location to start, grow and locate a business, and can only act to boost the local economy. We hope that Royal Mail's Business Barometer is evidence that the group does care about the business community and that it will refocus its efforts on providing a reliable early morning mail delivery for all businesses."

A delighted council spokesman said: "It's really encouraging, but we shouldn't be surprised at these new results. The town has a superb infrastructure, and a business support setup that is second to none.

"We put a lot of work into startups, and we have a lot of enquiries about inward investment. When you put that together, it's clear that Bolton is one of the leading locations for relocating businesses and for those about to start."

Northern towns in general outperformed the South when it came to attracting new firms to the area and growing their business communities during the last six months, with nine of the top ten towns being based north of the Midlands.