The number of small businesses across England and Wales looks set to fall by 150,000 over the next couple of years as entrepreneurs struggle with the effects of the global economic slowdown, Barclays has reported.

According to the bank, ventures large enough to have their own business bank accounts currently total around 2.85 million, with entrepreneurship having benefited from low interest rates and a general feeling of confidence over the past few years.

However, an enterprise conference in London is due to be told that the current economic mood is deterring would-be entrepreneurs from following their dreams, while high interest rates and a lack of credit is also now taking its toll on small enterprises.

"We will probably see the [business] stock fall by up to 150,000 in the course of the downswing," Richard Roberts, head of small and medium-sized enterprise analysis at Barclays, told the Financial Times.

"Growth has already stopped - closures have been higher than start-ups for some time."

At the same time, Delta Economics has predicted that the percentage of Britons opting to set up their own businesses is likely to fall by half a percentage point to six percent.