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Start Up Loans delivers £25m of loans to Kent’s small business owners

Press release 02 April 2026

Thanet, Tunbridge Wells and Dartford are the three most entrepreneurial places in Kent

  • Kent is the most entrepreneurial county in the South East, with the highest number of loans taken out by founders
  • Local authorities receiving the highest volume of loans in total are Thanet, Maidstone and Canterbury
  • The three most entrepreneurial places in Kent are Thanet, Tunbridge Wells and Dartford
  • Robin Bartlett, founder of Sea Scrub Sauna, used the loan to expand his beachside sauna company

The Start Up Loans programme, part of the British Business Bank, has provided £25m in loans to entrepreneurs in Kent. Since the government-backed programme began in 2012, it has supported Kent founders with 2,500 Start Up Loans to start or grow their business, with an average loan value of £10,107.

Thanet is the most entrepreneurial local authority in the county, with the highest number of Start Up Loans taken out, and is the most entrepreneurial Kent local authority when adjusted for population size. On the same measure, Tunbridge Wells and Dartford come second and third respectively.

The Start Up Loans programme is committed to providing accessible finance to all, including those who may otherwise struggle to secure finance from traditional high-street lenders. In Kent, 21% of Start Up Loans finance has gone to those who were formerly unemployed, helping get people back into work through entrepreneurship. 14% of recipients were from Black, Asian or other ethnic minority backgrounds.

Just over a tenth of loans (11%) have been provided to founders under the age of 25. Of those loans, more than one in five (22%) were taken out by NEETS (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) in the county.

Blair McDougall, Minister for Small Business, said:

Kent is home to some of the brightest and most innovative entrepreneurs in the UK and through Start Up Loans, we are ensuring they have access to the finance they need to reach their full potential.

This is an impressive milestone for the programme, which has supported thousands of entrepreneurs across Kent, boosting businesses, job opportunities and the economy.

In the wider South East region, more than £150m worth of funding has been provided to small business owners, indicating increased investment into the region. With this new milestone, Kent stands as the most entrepreneurial county in the region with the highest volume and value of loans - over one in six loans in the South East region were taken out by Kent founders.

One Kent-based founder who used a Start Up Loan to grow his business is Robin Bartlett, founder of Sea Scrub Sauna. Since launching in 2023 Robin has opened three outdoor saunas and cold plunge sites across the Kent coast.

Robin Bartlett, founder of Sea Scrub Sauna:

After multiple conversations with my cousin in Norway about the popularity of sauna culture and the wellness and social benefits it brings, I realised there was a clear gap in the UK market for this emerging industry. Especially after Covid, people were paying much more attention to their health and wellbeing, which created a demand for experiences like saunas and cold plunges.

I have now grown my business to three different locations across Kent and I am excited to invest further in scaling the business, creating a larger network of sites and reaching a broader customer base.

The loan is the only external funding we have taken on and it has been instrumental in getting the initial equipment needed to get off the ground. I didn’t have an established credit history and interest rates were heavily fluctuating at the time of setting up, so the fact that the Start Up Loans programme backed my business when other providers may not have, was a real vote of confidence.

Louise McCoy, Managing Director, Start Up Loans Products, British Business Bank:

Reaching this milestone in Kent shows the impact Start Up Loans is having in supporting start up and early-stage businesses in the county, as well as the wider region. We know the initial funding is critical for many businesses to get going and so it is great to see 2,000 plus businesses using the funding to get started, or to grow.

A full breakdown of the volume and value of loans by Kent local authority

RankingLocal authorityVolume of loansValue of loans (£)
1Thanet3002,629,888
2Maidstone2562,553,634
3Canterbury2252,343,000
4Dartford2242,532,399
5Ashford2182,402,310
6Tunbridge Wells2182,320,406
7Swale2011,893,615
8Tonbridge and Malling1922,156,573
9Sevenoaks1771,831,524
10Folkestone and Hythe1681,486,932
11Dover1641,534,708
12Gravesham1561,573,080

Start Up Loans per 100,000 of population

RankingLocal authorityLoans density (per 100,000 people)
1Thanet211
2Tunbridge Wells182
3Dartford180
4Ashford155
5Folkestone and Hythe153
6Sevenoaks144
7Gravesham143
8Tonbridge and Malling141
9Canterbury140
10Dover139
11Maidstone137
12Swale128

Further Information

If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact [email protected].

Notes to editors

About Start Up Loans

The Start Up Loans programme provides personal loans for business purposes of up to £25,000 at a fixed interest rate per annum and offers free dedicated mentoring and support to each business.

The primary aim of the Start Up Loans programme is to ensure that viable start-ups and early-stage businesses have access to the finance and support they need in order to thrive. A network of Business Support Partner organisations supports applicants in all regions and industries throughout the UK. The Start Up Loans programme is not designed to generate a commercial profit. Capital payments together with the interest are recycled to help meet increasing demands for finance.

Free guides on a range of subjects related to starting a business are available on the Start Up Loans website. You can find recent media press releases here.

The funding for the Start Up Loans programme is provided by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The Start Up Loans programme is operated by The Start-Up Loans Company, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, registration number 08117656, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ.  The Start-Up Loans Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Business Bank plc which is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. With the exception of BBB Investment Services Limited they are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority. BBB Investment Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at british-business-bank.co.uk.

Aside from the return-on-investment numbers these key statistics are gross estimates and based on Start Up Loans CRM along with externally commissioned research undertaken by SQW Ltd, with support from BMG Research. 

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