Official government figures have confirmed that the UK being is now in recession for the first time since 1991 Like many cities, Peterborough has been impacted by the recession in one way or another

Southampton is a city that contributes over £2billion to the British economy every year and boosts some of the most famous household names in the UK EB&Q, HSBC, Skandia and Ordnance Survey just to name a few There are over 7,700 businesses operating in Southampton and provides employment for over 139,000 people and is also the one of the country’s leading commercial dockyards

Portsmouth is located on the South coast of England in the county of Hampshire and is the UK’s only island city with a population of around 200,000 in the city and combined population of 450,000 in the wider urban area of Portsmouth The city has always had a big connection with the Royal Navy and defense systems for many centuries

Portsmouth is Britain's only island city and is most noted for its naval ports Portsmouth has one of the world's oldest dry docks, which has the HMS Victory sitting in it, which was the flagship of Lord Nelson

Coventry has had a very tough year in 2009 on the economic front with some heavy job losses The city has been through tough times before in its history and “risen from the ashes” both literally and metaphorically

Birmingham, like the majority of towns and cities in the UK, has seen major industrial changes during the last three/four decades, with numerous companies, both large and small, opening and closing their gates for the last time It has also suffered considerably in the current economic recession as the economy shrank for a record sixth quarter in a row, with unemployment in the city now standing at some 8

At one point during it's history, Downpatrick was a bustling centre of business activity – the town even had a direct transport link with Liverpool via a steamer which departed from Quoile Quay In more recent times the town seems to have played second fiddle to others within the district, quietly waiting for someone to notice its positive attributes and abilities

Some would describe Glasgow as a tough city, with high unemployment, ill health with age long bigotry between its 2 main football clubs And if you walk around the city I guess you will see examples of all of these things, so you could be forgiven for assuming Glasgow must be in a bad way given the current economic downturn

Surviving the Downturn – advice for the small business Whether the recession is coming to the end or extending into 2010, it can feel hard for a small business

How to you find business in a recession - Business Networking Cold calling and telephone canvassing are hard work at the best of times but, in a recession, you can get very down-hearted with continual rebuffs Networking and exchanging information and contacts with others in business is an excellent way to generate leads and possible future sales