Is there a simple reason why the industrial revolution started in the 1800s in western europe,

There is not a simple reason. Because the prerequisites for it to happen - including such things as patent law, universities, individual freedoms, skills in metallurgy, banking, ... - had foundations that were all laid in the medieval era through the enlightenment.

Thus, it is necessary to explain why did Europe take the direction it did in the years 1000-1800 with Great Britain arriving uniquely with all these many essentials to spark the industrial revolution.

Clearly that is very complex topic and modern historians will include everything from religion to geography in their explanations, and then argue the relative importance of each. It is a very hot topic in popular history. But to understand it, I recommend "The Most Powerful Idea in the World" by William Rosen which charts the evolution of steam engines and gives a good understanding of all minutiae required to make it happen.

As to whether it could happen anywhere else/sooner, the tautological answer of, of course, if that place/era had arrived at the necessary prequisities first. One only has to look at Silicon Valley today. Why did it rise to become a world center of information technology. There's not really one answer, and perhaps anywhere in the western world could in theory have done so, but it uniquely had all the prequisities first.