Best UK areas to open commercial garage
229 local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real commercial rent, local wages, business rates and market density.
Which UK areas are best for opening a commercial transport garage in 2026?
The best UK area to open a commercial transport garage is Boston (East Midlands), with a Gera Business Location Score of 92.8/100: premises at £32/m²/yr and local median pay of £26,187. Westminster ranks lowest at 11.1/100. Ranked across 229 local authorities from 2025 government open data; re-dated annually.
Top 10 areas for commercial garage
| # | Local authority | Region | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston | East Midlands | 92.8/100 | £32 | £26,187 | £1,382 |
| 2 | Powys | Wales | 92/100 | £26 | £26,839 | £1,123 |
| 3 | Torridge | South West | 91.6/100 | £25 | £26,745 | £1,080 |
| 4 | Mid Devon | South West | 91/100 | £29 | £29,224 | £1,253 |
| 5 | South Holland | East Midlands | 90.8/100 | £21 | £27,809 | £907 |
| 6 | North Lincolnshire | Yorkshire and The Humber | 89.8/100 | £23 | £29,973 | £994 |
| 7 | North Devon | South West | 89.8/100 | £41 | £27,526 | £1,771 |
| 8 | Ceredigion | Wales | 89.1/100 | £28 | £27,868 | £1,210 |
| 9 | Forest of Dean | South West | 88.9/100 | £45 | £25,387 | £1,944 |
| 10 | Derbyshire Dales | East Midlands | 88.5/100 | £38 | £28,874 | £1,642 |
Filter by your budget
Set a premises size and monthly budget to shortlist the areas that fit.
Budget covers estimated annual rent (VOA rateable value × floor area) plus the 2026-27 small-business rates bill (43.2p multiplier), spread over 12 months. Real reliefs (e.g. Small Business Rate Relief) can reduce the rates portion further.
Best areas to open a commercial transport garage within £2,000/month
- 1BostonEast MidlandsGBLS 92.8≈ £305/mo
- 2PowysWalesGBLS 92≈ £248/mo
- 3TorridgeSouth WestGBLS 91.6≈ £239/mo
- 4Mid DevonSouth WestGBLS 91≈ £277/mo
- 5South HollandEast MidlandsGBLS 90.8≈ £200/mo
- 6North LincolnshireYorkshire and The HumberGBLS 89.8≈ £220/mo
- 7North DevonSouth WestGBLS 89.8≈ £391/mo
- 8CeredigionWalesGBLS 89.1≈ £267/mo
- 9Forest of DeanSouth WestGBLS 88.9≈ £430/mo
- 10Derbyshire DalesEast MidlandsGBLS 88.5≈ £363/mo
- 11Herefordshire, County ofWest MidlandsGBLS 87.9≈ £353/mo
- 12PeterboroughEastGBLS 87.9≈ £458/mo
- 13East LindseyEast MidlandsGBLS 87.4≈ £277/mo
- 14ShropshireWest MidlandsGBLS 87.4≈ £363/mo
- 15FenlandEastGBLS 87.2≈ £391/mo
Commercial garage by region
Frequently asked questions
- Where is the cheapest place to open a commercial transport garage in the UK?
- By premises cost alone, the lowest VOA rateable value among the 229 ranked areas is £5/m²/yr in Merthyr Tydfil / Merthyr Tudful. But the Gera Business Location Score also weighs local wages and market demand: on the combined score, Boston ranks #1 at 92.8/100.
- How much is rent and business rates for commercial garage premises in Boston?
- In Boston, the VOA rateable value for this property type is £32 per m² per year. For a 100 m² unit that is about £3,200/yr rent, plus roughly £1,382/yr business rates at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p) — before any Small Business Rate Relief.
- What data is this based on?
- VOA Non-Domestic Rating Business Floorspace (rateable value per m², 31 March 2025), ONS UK Business Counts 2025 (market density), ONS ASHE 2025 (local wages) and ONS mid-2024 population — all Open Government Licence v3.0, joined on the ONS local-authority code.
Opening a commercial transport garage? Stay compliant from day one.
Any UK business handling customer data must comply with the UK GDPR — and the EU AI Act if you use AI tools or sell into the EU. GeraCompliance gets your documentation done in a fixed-scope 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).