It turns up before five in a city business (8)
I believe the answer is:
activity
'business' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'it turns up before five in a city' is the wordplay.
'turns up' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'before' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'five' becomes 'V' (Roman numeral).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'it' back-to-front is 'ti'.
'ti'+'v'='tiv'
'a'+'city'='acity'
'tiv' put within 'acity' is 'ACTIVITY'.
(Other definitions for activity that I've seen before include "Pastime or bustle" , "Bustle; occupation" , "Something performed for recreation or exercise" , "Occupation or exercise" , "Recreational pursuit" .)