Best areas to open cafe in London
33 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 cafe or coffee shop in London?
In London, the best area to open a cafe or coffee shop is Havering, with a Gera Business Location Score of 59.8/100: premises at £93/m²/yr and local median pay £31,874. Westminster ranks lowest of 33 London authorities at 16.9/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
London ranked for cafe
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Havering | 59.8/100 | £93 | £31,874 | £4,018 |
| 2 | Bexley | 57.9/100 | £141 | £27,441 | £6,091 |
| 3 | Barking and Dagenham | 55.6/100 | £135 | £32,433 | £5,832 |
| 4 | Greenwich | 54.4/100 | £162 | £30,787 | £6,998 |
| 5 | Waltham Forest | 54.4/100 | £175 | £28,880 | £7,560 |
| 6 | Sutton | 53.8/100 | £143 | £35,113 | £6,178 |
| 7 | Croydon | 53/100 | £153 | £34,987 | £6,610 |
| 8 | Enfield | 52.3/100 | £186 | £31,252 | £8,035 |
| 9 | Lewisham | 52.1/100 | £164 | £34,965 | £7,085 |
| 10 | Bromley | 51.9/100 | £176 | £33,520 | £7,603 |
| 11 | Haringey | 51.2/100 | £222 | £27,716 | £9,590 |
| 12 | Redbridge | 49.2/100 | £240 | £28,125 | £10,368 |
| 13 | Barnet | 49.1/100 | £225 | £30,926 | £9,720 |
| 14 | Ealing | 49.1/100 | £208 | £33,592 | £8,986 |
| 15 | Brent | 48.5/100 | £224 | £32,335 | £9,677 |
| 16 | Merton | 48.5/100 | £219 | £32,983 | £9,461 |
| 17 | Hillingdon | 47.7/100 | £199 | £37,941 | £8,597 |
| 18 | Harrow | 47.3/100 | £237 | £32,208 | £10,238 |
| 19 | Hounslow | 46.1/100 | £215 | £38,422 | £9,288 |
| 20 | Kingston upon Thames | 44.4/100 | £246 | £36,898 | £10,627 |
| 21 | Richmond upon Thames | 44.3/100 | £261 | £35,263 | £11,275 |
| 22 | Hackney | 43.6/100 | £257 | £37,736 | £11,102 |
| 23 | Wandsworth | 42.9/100 | £259 | £37,534 | £11,189 |
| 24 | Newham | 38/100 | £303 | £39,117 | £13,090 |
| 25 | Islington | 36.1/100 | £281 | £49,624 | £12,139 |
| 26 | Hammersmith and Fulham | 33.6/100 | £336 | £44,042 | £14,515 |
| 27 | Lambeth | 32.9/100 | £350 | £42,039 | £15,120 |
| 28 | City of London | 32.2/100 | £545 | £67,064 | £23,544 |
| 29 | Southwark | 31.6/100 | £337 | £47,136 | £14,558 |
| 30 | Camden | 30.2/100 | £377 | £48,822 | £16,286 |
| 31 | Tower Hamlets | 22.7/100 | £364 | £59,974 | £15,725 |
| 32 | Kensington and Chelsea | 21.3/100 | £527 | £38,541 | £22,766 |
| 33 | Westminster | 16.9/100 | £570 | £49,973 | £24,624 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for cafe premises in London?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in London is £93/m²/yr in Havering. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Havering ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for cafe in Havering?
- For a 100 m² unit in Havering, business rates are roughly £4,018/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £9,300/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
Opening a cafe or coffee shop in London?
Set up your UK GDPR and EU AI Act compliance from day one with a fixed-scope GeraCompliance sprint.
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).