Service industries have traditionally been viewed as secondary to, and at best supportive of, manufacturing industries. This thesis is designed to challenge this view with regard to a particular group of services, advanced producer services. It contends that this group makes both direct and indirect contributions to economic growth at urban region level by operating in two ways: firstly, by providing intermediate inputs into the production of finished products and secondly, in its own right, selling its services to clients outside of the region. This contradicts the expectations of theoretical models of urban growth such as export base theory which cast services in an entirely dependent role. Analysis of the spatial distribution of advanced producer services reveals a significant degree of regional inequality in their provision which given the contribution they make to growth has potentially serious implications for the economic regeneration of many of Britain's depressed areas.