Best areas to open drive-thru restaurant in West Midlands
20 West Midlands local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a drive-thru restaurant in West Midlands?
In West Midlands, the best area to open a drive-thru restaurant is Shropshire, with a Gera Business Location Score of 72.2/100: premises at £258/m²/yr and local median pay £28,397. Coventry ranks lowest of 20 West Midlands authorities at 41.7/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top West Midlands area for drive-thru restaurant: Shropshire.
How this is calculatedWest Midlands ranked for drive-thru restaurant
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shropshire | 72.2/100 | £258 | £28,397 | £11,146 |
| 2 | Cannock Chase | 60.5/100 | £279 | £29,719 | £12,053 |
| 3 | Warwick | 60.4/100 | £292 | £33,616 | £12,614 |
| 4 | East Staffordshire | 57.7/100 | £298 | £31,048 | £12,874 |
| 5 | Birmingham | 57.2/100 | £283 | £33,374 | £12,226 |
| 6 | Stafford | 56/100 | £328 | £28,523 | £14,170 |
| 7 | Wolverhampton | 55.7/100 | £284 | £32,053 | £12,269 |
| 8 | Dudley | 54.1/100 | £304 | £29,071 | £13,133 |
| 9 | Walsall | 53.7/100 | £307 | £28,691 | £13,262 |
| 10 | Redditch | 52.1/100 | £307 | £30,780 | £13,262 |
| 11 | Wyre Forest | 51.8/100 | £351 | £27,346 | £15,163 |
| 12 | Solihull | 51.5/100 | £296 | £35,794 | £12,787 |
| 13 | Wychavon | 51.2/100 | £334 | £32,022 | £14,429 |
| 14 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 50.4/100 | £351 | £27,238 | £15,163 |
| 15 | Telford and Wrekin | 50.1/100 | £327 | £30,601 | £14,126 |
| 16 | Rugby | 49.8/100 | £315 | £36,417 | £13,608 |
| 17 | Sandwell | 48/100 | £345 | £28,766 | £14,904 |
| 18 | Tamworth | 47.1/100 | £345 | £28,143 | £14,904 |
| 19 | Stoke-on-Trent | 43.4/100 | £355 | £30,767 | £15,336 |
| 20 | Coventry | 41.7/100 | £341 | £35,124 | £14,731 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for drive-thru restaurant premises in West Midlands?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in West Midlands is £258/m²/yr in Shropshire. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Shropshire ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for drive-thru restaurant in Shropshire?
- For a 100 m² unit in Shropshire, business rates are roughly £11,146/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £25,800/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).