Best areas to open builders merchant in Yorkshire and The Humber
12 Yorkshire and The Humber 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 Yorkshire and The Humber?
In Yorkshire and The Humber, the best area to open a builders merchant is North Yorkshire, with a Gera Business Location Score of 72.6/100: premises at £48/m²/yr and local median pay £29,288. York ranks lowest of 12 Yorkshire and The Humber authorities at 49.4/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top Yorkshire and The Humber area for builders merchant: North Yorkshire.
How this is calculatedYorkshire and The Humber ranked for builders merchant
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Yorkshire | 72.6/100 | £48 | £29,288 | £2,074 |
| 2 | Calderdale | 70.4/100 | £45 | £30,451 | £1,944 |
| 3 | Kirklees | 66.8/100 | £51 | £28,821 | £2,203 |
| 4 | North Lincolnshire | 63.2/100 | £41 | £29,973 | £1,771 |
| 5 | East Riding of Yorkshire | 62.6/100 | £53 | £29,355 | £2,290 |
| 6 | Rotherham | 61.7/100 | £44 | £29,088 | £1,901 |
| 7 | Kingston upon Hull, City of | 61.4/100 | £37 | £29,790 | £1,598 |
| 8 | Bradford | 61/100 | £60 | £29,745 | £2,592 |
| 9 | Doncaster | 60.2/100 | £47 | £28,928 | £2,030 |
| 10 | Leeds | 56/100 | £55 | £32,953 | £2,376 |
| 11 | Wakefield | 54/100 | £59 | £30,950 | £2,549 |
| 12 | York | 49.4/100 | £60 | £32,151 | £2,592 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for builders merchant premises in Yorkshire and The Humber?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in Yorkshire and The Humber is £37/m²/yr in Kingston upon Hull, City of. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, North Yorkshire ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for builders merchant in North Yorkshire?
- For a 100 m² unit in North Yorkshire, business rates are roughly £2,074/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £4,800/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).