Banbury is the tenth most profitable town in Britain, says a new survey.

But Oxford city centre is well down the prosperity league. The research said businesses in Banbury enjoyed an average profit margin of 13.46 per cent.

Oxford managed only 255th place - 30 places above the bottom position - with businesses only registering an average profit margin of 1.2 per cent.

Neighbouring Swindon was 38th (8.04 per cent profits), while Buckingham came 49th (7.69 per cent).

Britain's most profitable town was Worthing in West Sussex, where businesses enjoy a hefty profit margin of 20.9 per cent.

Warrington in Cheshire came second with a figure of 19.57, while Dundee achieved third place with 18.75 per cent.

Almost half of the top 50 towns and cities were in the South of England - only seven in the north and 11 in the Midlands made the list.

Folkestone in Kent came in bottom position just behind nearby towns of Sittingbourne and Ramsgate.

The research was carried out by Experian, the global information solutions company. It looked at 285 towns and cities across the country and analysed the total level of profits against the total sales of nearly 200,000 companies.

It found a number of characteristics were shared by successful locations. These included excellent communication and transport links, the support of skilled workers and a solid manufacturing base. supplemented by expansion into hi-tech business services.

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