Best areas to open garden centre in South East
40 South East local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a garden centre in South East?
In South East, the best area to open a garden centre is Winchester, with a Gera Business Location Score of 73/100: premises at £13/m²/yr and local median pay £34,568. Milton Keynes ranks lowest of 40 South East authorities at 28.9/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top South East area for garden centre: Winchester.
How this is calculatedSouth East ranked for garden centre
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winchester | 73/100 | £13 | £34,568 | £562 |
| 2 | Rother | 71.5/100 | £4 | £27,732 | £173 |
| 3 | Wealden | 64/100 | £9 | £27,639 | £389 |
| 4 | Chichester | 62.6/100 | £13 | £28,547 | £562 |
| 5 | Isle of Wight | 60.9/100 | £12 | £26,185 | £518 |
| 6 | New Forest | 60.7/100 | £11 | £30,071 | £475 |
| 7 | Swale | 60/100 | £5 | £29,831 | £216 |
| 8 | Thanet | 59.8/100 | £11 | £27,076 | £475 |
| 9 | Dover | 59/100 | £7 | £31,547 | £302 |
| 10 | Tunbridge Wells | 58.7/100 | £14 | £30,296 | £605 |
| 11 | Sevenoaks | 57/100 | £12 | £28,537 | £518 |
| 12 | Tonbridge and Malling | 56.1/100 | £7 | £31,472 | £302 |
| 13 | Canterbury | 52.5/100 | £16 | £29,337 | £691 |
| 14 | East Hampshire | 52.1/100 | £15 | £30,143 | £648 |
| 15 | Guildford | 52/100 | £8 | £38,027 | £346 |
| 16 | Waverley | 51.9/100 | £16 | £31,083 | £691 |
| 17 | Horsham | 51.1/100 | £14 | £32,334 | £605 |
| 18 | Dartford | 50.1/100 | £16 | £32,428 | £691 |
| 19 | Mole Valley | 49.6/100 | £12 | £39,893 | £518 |
| 20 | Mid Sussex | 49.4/100 | £16 | £31,401 | £691 |
| 21 | Tandridge | 47.6/100 | £18 | £29,925 | £778 |
| 22 | Buckinghamshire | 47.4/100 | £16 | £33,367 | £691 |
| 23 | Ashford | 47.2/100 | £21 | £29,118 | £907 |
| 24 | Lewes | 46.4/100 | £19 | £32,287 | £821 |
| 25 | Test Valley | 45.3/100 | £16 | £33,566 | £691 |
| 26 | Eastleigh | 44.8/100 | £14 | £35,362 | £605 |
| 27 | Arun | 44.6/100 | £23 | £27,461 | £994 |
| 28 | Maidstone | 44.5/100 | £19 | £31,986 | £821 |
| 29 | Basingstoke and Deane | 44.3/100 | £13 | £35,492 | £562 |
| 30 | South Oxfordshire | 44/100 | £16 | £36,315 | £691 |
| 31 | Woking | 43.7/100 | £16 | £35,258 | £691 |
| 32 | Cherwell | 40.4/100 | £24 | £33,207 | £1,037 |
| 33 | West Berkshire | 38.4/100 | £19 | £35,806 | £821 |
| 34 | Wokingham | 37.3/100 | £16 | £38,552 | £691 |
| 35 | West Oxfordshire | 37/100 | £24 | £34,006 | £1,037 |
| 36 | Runnymede | 35.7/100 | £17 | £40,000 | £734 |
| 37 | Surrey Heath | 34.1/100 | £24 | £36,632 | £1,037 |
| 38 | Vale of White Horse | 33/100 | £20 | £38,134 | £864 |
| 39 | Hart | 29.3/100 | £29 | £30,973 | £1,253 |
| 40 | Milton Keynes | 28.9/100 | £28 | £36,521 | £1,210 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for garden centre premises in South East?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in South East is £4/m²/yr in Rother. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Winchester ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for garden centre in Winchester?
- For a 100 m² unit in Winchester, business rates are roughly £562/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £1,300/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).