Best areas to open builders merchant in London
10 London local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a builders merchant in London?
In London, the best area to open a builders merchant is Brent, with a Gera Business Location Score of 61.6/100: premises at £72/m²/yr and local median pay £32,335. Croydon ranks lowest of 10 London authorities at 24.2/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
London ranked for builders merchant
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brent | 61.6/100 | £72 | £32,335 | £3,110 |
| 2 | Ealing | 56.9/100 | £91 | £33,592 | £3,931 |
| 3 | Hillingdon | 55.9/100 | £66 | £37,941 | £2,851 |
| 4 | Enfield | 55.1/100 | £98 | £31,252 | £4,234 |
| 5 | Barnet | 54.9/100 | £113 | £30,926 | £4,882 |
| 6 | Haringey | 45.3/100 | £114 | £27,716 | £4,925 |
| 7 | Bromley | 37.4/100 | £100 | £33,520 | £4,320 |
| 8 | Sutton | 26.9/100 | £127 | £35,113 | £5,486 |
| 9 | Hammersmith and Fulham | 26.8/100 | £142 | £44,042 | £6,134 |
| 10 | Croydon | 24.2/100 | £129 | £34,987 | £5,573 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for builders merchant premises in London?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in London is £66/m²/yr in Hillingdon. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Brent ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for builders merchant in Brent?
- For a 100 m² unit in Brent, business rates are roughly £3,110/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £7,200/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
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Contains public sector information published by Valuation Office Agency and Office for National Statistics and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: VOA Business Floorspace + ONS Business Counts + ONS ASHE (work geography) + ONS population estimates (2025 (VOA 31 March 2025; ASHE 2025 provisional; Business Counts 2025; population mid-2024), published December 2025).