Brighton and Hove has been named as one of the leading cities fuelling the economic recovery.

The Small Business Outlook report from the Centre for Cities said it was the UK’s third-best performing city for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that pursued “high-growth strategies” last year.

The report, supported by Zurich Insurance, defines high growth strategy as focusing on quality rather than price, innovation, investing in training and developing workforce, offering customised goods and services and working in competitive markets.

The report said the city was home to the highest concentration of SMEs per 10,000 population in 2013 with 360.

Behind only Reading and first-placed London, which had 418.

The city also had the third highest business start-up rate per 10,000 population in 2012.

London led the way with 75.5 per 10,000 population, followed by Aberdeen with 57.1 and Brighton and Hove with 54.5.

Jason Woodford, of digital marketing firm Site Visibility, entrepreneurialism and a “can-do” attitude was the secret behind the success.

He added: “We’ve also got two amazing universities on our doorstep producing thousands of eager students.

“A Wired Sussex highlighted that the digital sector is now bigger than the leisure sector.”