South Lakeland is the top place in Cumbria for start-up businesses.
The Cumbria Intelligence Observatory says there were 694 business start-ups in the county from April to June this year.
185 of them were in the South Lakes (27% of all start-ups) followed by Carlisle with 122 and Allerdale with 104.
As in previous quarters, the highest number of start-ups was in the real estate & professional services sector with 176. This was followed by recreation with 102, construction with 101, wholesale & retail with 86 and accommodation & food services with 72 . Real estate, professional services has shown the biggest rise in start-ups compared to last quarter with 29 more, a quarterly increase of 20% with recreation and construction also showing rises.
Local MP Tim Farron has welcomed the news and says he thinks the area is the "start-up hub of Cumbria."
Mr Farron: "Seeing so many entrepreneurs setting up their own businesses is fantastic and shows that our area is the start-up hub of Cumbria. This news, added to the growing number of jobs being advertised and our work on apprenticeships, shows we are really making a difference locally."