Best areas to open gym / fitness suite in South East
52 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 gym or fitness studio in South East?
In South East, the best area to open a gym or fitness studio is Rother, with a Gera Business Location Score of 61.9/100: premises at £49/m²/yr and local median pay £27,732. Oxford ranks lowest of 52 South East authorities at 44.4/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top South East area for gym / fitness suite: Rother.
How this is calculatedSouth East ranked for gym / fitness suite
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rother | 61.9/100 | £49 | £27,732 | £2,117 |
| 2 | Dover | 60.3/100 | £40 | £31,547 | £1,728 |
| 3 | Isle of Wight | 60.1/100 | £67 | £26,185 | £2,894 |
| 4 | Sevenoaks | 59.9/100 | £62 | £28,537 | £2,678 |
| 5 | Worthing | 59.8/100 | £57 | £29,044 | £2,462 |
| 6 | Wealden | 59.7/100 | £67 | £27,639 | £2,894 |
| 7 | Folkestone and Hythe | 59.4/100 | £47 | £31,907 | £2,030 |
| 8 | Eastbourne | 59.2/100 | £71 | £26,893 | £3,067 |
| 9 | New Forest | 58.7/100 | £65 | £30,071 | £2,808 |
| 10 | Rushmoor | 58.5/100 | £43 | £34,238 | £1,858 |
| 11 | Swale | 58.5/100 | £59 | £29,831 | £2,549 |
| 12 | Arun | 58.5/100 | £72 | £27,461 | £3,110 |
| 13 | Havant | 58.3/100 | £61 | £30,573 | £2,635 |
| 14 | Ashford | 57.9/100 | £70 | £29,118 | £3,024 |
| 15 | Gravesham | 57.8/100 | £48 | £34,455 | £2,074 |
| 16 | Canterbury | 57.7/100 | £71 | £29,337 | £3,067 |
| 17 | Southampton | 57.1/100 | £53 | £33,878 | £2,290 |
| 18 | Chichester | 57.1/100 | £86 | £28,547 | £3,715 |
| 19 | Gosport | 56.7/100 | £71 | £30,518 | £3,067 |
| 20 | Tonbridge and Malling | 56.7/100 | £70 | £31,472 | £3,024 |
| 21 | Tunbridge Wells | 56.5/100 | £80 | £30,296 | £3,456 |
| 22 | Lewes | 56.1/100 | £76 | £32,287 | £3,283 |
| 23 | Maidstone | 55.9/100 | £73 | £31,986 | £3,154 |
| 24 | East Hampshire | 55.7/100 | £87 | £30,143 | £3,758 |
| 25 | Cherwell | 55.6/100 | £72 | £33,207 | £3,110 |
| 26 | Medway | 55.5/100 | £78 | £30,784 | £3,370 |
| 27 | Eastleigh | 55.3/100 | £66 | £35,362 | £2,851 |
| 28 | Hart | 55.3/100 | £84 | £30,973 | £3,629 |
| 29 | Buckinghamshire | 55/100 | £80 | £33,367 | £3,456 |
| 30 | Mid Sussex | 55/100 | £86 | £31,401 | £3,715 |
| 31 | West Oxfordshire | 54.9/100 | £79 | £34,006 | £3,413 |
| 32 | Portsmouth | 54.4/100 | £79 | £33,015 | £3,413 |
| 33 | Test Valley | 54.3/100 | £80 | £33,566 | £3,456 |
| 34 | Waverley | 54/100 | £102 | £31,083 | £4,406 |
| 35 | Milton Keynes | 53.8/100 | £71 | £36,521 | £3,067 |
| 36 | Woking | 53.7/100 | £81 | £35,258 | £3,499 |
| 37 | Mole Valley | 53.4/100 | £71 | £39,893 | £3,067 |
| 38 | Brighton and Hove | 53.1/100 | £95 | £33,649 | £4,104 |
| 39 | South Oxfordshire | 53/100 | £84 | £36,315 | £3,629 |
| 40 | Wokingham | 52.6/100 | £72 | £38,552 | £3,110 |
| 41 | Vale of White Horse | 51.8/100 | £83 | £38,134 | £3,586 |
| 42 | Windsor and Maidenhead | 51.6/100 | £104 | £34,570 | £4,493 |
| 43 | Reigate and Banstead | 51.3/100 | £83 | £39,073 | £3,586 |
| 44 | West Berkshire | 51.2/100 | £101 | £35,806 | £4,363 |
| 45 | Basingstoke and Deane | 50.8/100 | £98 | £35,492 | £4,234 |
| 46 | Crawley | 50.7/100 | £93 | £36,053 | £4,018 |
| 47 | Slough | 49.4/100 | £93 | £38,578 | £4,018 |
| 48 | Winchester | 49.4/100 | £118 | £34,568 | £5,098 |
| 49 | Elmbridge | 48.4/100 | £150 | £30,000 | £6,480 |
| 50 | Runnymede | 47.8/100 | £106 | £40,000 | £4,579 |
| 51 | Reading | 46.2/100 | £101 | £44,956 | £4,363 |
| 52 | Oxford | 44.4/100 | £133 | £38,779 | £5,746 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for gym / fitness suite premises in South East?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in South East is £40/m²/yr in Dover. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Rother ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for gym / fitness suite in Rother?
- For a 100 m² unit in Rother, business rates are roughly £2,117/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £4,900/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).