Sectors

Home to a wide variety of businesses

With its welcoming business community, you will feel at home in East Ayrshire whatever your sector.

The area is home to a diverse range of business sectors, from tourism to textiles including engineering, retail, food and drink and a number of niche sectors. There is a healthy mix of traditional and modern businesses, ranging from small family firms to large international organisations.

This means there is a diversity of business support services in East Ayrshire, with a valuable breadth and depth of experience in providing help and advice.

Listed below are some of the many different business sectors in the area, along with some short videos of local business people talking about their experiences of being based in East Ayrshire.

Engineering and Manufacturing

A skilled and diverse community

East Ayrshire has a strong engineering and manufacturing community, with around 80 companies employing 1,500 people.

Food and Drink

Dedicated to quality from farm to fork

East Ayrshire has a modern and dynamic food and drink sector, with a focus on high quality products. There are over 750 active farms in East Ayrshire, most producing dairy, meat and poultry. Farmers are well represented by local NFU agents and organisations like the Ayrshire Farmers’ Cooperative.

Textiles

Building on the area’s heritage and skills

There is a long and rich tradition of making quality textiles in East Ayrshire – once one of the main textile centres of the British Empire.

Retail

Improved town centres, increased opportunities

With five town centres, East Ayrshire offers several promising locations for retail businesses. Good public transport and road networks make it easy for our growing population to access town centres.

Tourism

A visitor destination with so much to offer

There are many good reasons a tourism-based business can find success in East Ayrshire. The area offers an attractive combination of history and heritage, cultural venues and visitor attractions.

Niche sectors

Home to innovative specialist companies

Continuing a tradition of innovative thinking in East Ayrshire, the area has a number of specialist businesses serving niche areas. Covering everything from specialised leisure equipment to complex design, these are businesses that are highly successful in their own particular field.

Events

Keep up-to-date with the latest events and upcoming workshops with our event calendar.

Property search

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There is also a property search facility that can help you find the premises that are right for your business.

Case studies

Hear for yourself some success stories from East Ayrshire businesses, and discover why they thrive here.

Business directory

Use our directory to find out more about the many different businesses that are established in East Ayrshire.

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