Best areas to open light-industrial business unit in London
27 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 light-industrial business unit in London?
In London, the best area to open a light-industrial business unit is Bexley, with a Gera Business Location Score of 64.7/100: premises at £105/m²/yr and local median pay £27,441. Tower Hamlets ranks lowest of 27 London authorities at 32.7/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top London area for light-industrial business unit: Bexley.
How this is calculatedLondon ranked for light-industrial business unit
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bexley | 64.7/100 | £105 | £27,441 | £4,536 |
| 2 | Haringey | 62.6/100 | £138 | £27,716 | £5,962 |
| 3 | Enfield | 61.4/100 | £122 | £31,252 | £5,270 |
| 4 | Waltham Forest | 61.3/100 | £138 | £28,880 | £5,962 |
| 5 | Barking and Dagenham | 60.3/100 | £109 | £32,433 | £4,709 |
| 6 | Greenwich | 59.3/100 | £116 | £30,787 | £5,011 |
| 7 | Bromley | 59.1/100 | £113 | £33,520 | £4,882 |
| 8 | Havering | 59/100 | £134 | £31,874 | £5,789 |
| 9 | Merton | 58.4/100 | £131 | £32,983 | £5,659 |
| 10 | Ealing | 58/100 | £144 | £33,592 | £6,221 |
| 11 | Brent | 57.4/100 | £143 | £32,335 | £6,178 |
| 12 | Harrow | 56.6/100 | £136 | £32,208 | £5,875 |
| 13 | Hillingdon | 56.1/100 | £128 | £37,941 | £5,530 |
| 14 | Barnet | 53.2/100 | £211 | £30,926 | £9,115 |
| 15 | Kingston upon Thames | 50.1/100 | £199 | £36,898 | £8,597 |
| 16 | Lewisham | 49.3/100 | £182 | £34,965 | £7,862 |
| 17 | Newham | 49/100 | £163 | £39,117 | £7,042 |
| 18 | Hackney | 48.7/100 | £266 | £37,736 | £11,491 |
| 19 | Hounslow | 47.9/100 | £195 | £38,422 | £8,424 |
| 20 | Southwark | 43.3/100 | £195 | £47,136 | £8,424 |
| 21 | Islington | 42.6/100 | £253 | £49,624 | £10,930 |
| 22 | Wandsworth | 42/100 | £261 | £37,534 | £11,275 |
| 23 | Kensington and Chelsea | 41.8/100 | £301 | £38,541 | £13,003 |
| 24 | Camden | 40.4/100 | £366 | £48,822 | £15,811 |
| 25 | Lambeth | 38.5/100 | £264 | £42,039 | £11,405 |
| 26 | Westminster | 37.2/100 | £556 | £49,973 | £24,019 |
| 27 | Tower Hamlets | 32.7/100 | £196 | £59,974 | £8,467 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for light-industrial business unit premises in London?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in London is £105/m²/yr in Bexley. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Bexley ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for light-industrial business unit in Bexley?
- For a 100 m² unit in Bexley, business rates are roughly £4,536/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £10,500/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).