Mid and East Antrim business support

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is an excellent location for doing business.

Local infrastructure

Mid and East Antrim businesses benefit from direct access to markets across the world.

The council area has strong road and rail links to Belfast and the economic corridor to Dublin.

Belfast International Airport and Belfast City Airport are both within a short travel time from the council area. The road network also provides fast and reliable access to major ports at Belfast and Larne.

The council area has direct road access into the European Union - find out more about cross-border trade support with InterTradeIreland.

Local workforce and business supply chains

There are around 138,992 residents in Mid and East Antrim.

There are 5,055 businesses operating in Mid and East Antrim, which is 6% of all businesses in Northern Ireland. The majority of the base is micro and small businesses:

• 91% micro (0-9 employees)
• 8% small (10-49 employees)
• 1% medium (50-249 employees)
• 0.3% large (250+ employees)

Some major business investors in the council area include Moore Concrete Products, Step and Clarke Facades. Service businesses make up the largest sector in Mid and East Antrim:

• 28% agriculture
• 13% construction
• 8% manufacturing
• 52% services

You can download an Invest NI council briefing on Mid and East Antrim (PDF, 3.36MB).