Best areas to open hair & beauty salon in South West
26 South West local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a hair or beauty salon in South West?
In South West, the best area to open a hair or beauty salon is Forest of Dean, with a Gera Business Location Score of 62.3/100: premises at £93/m²/yr and local median pay £25,387. Cheltenham ranks lowest of 26 South West authorities at 47.8/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top South West area for hair & beauty salon: Forest of Dean.
How this is calculatedSouth West ranked for hair & beauty salon
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forest of Dean | 62.3/100 | £93 | £25,387 | £4,018 |
| 2 | Torridge | 61/100 | £98 | £26,745 | £4,234 |
| 3 | Mid Devon | 60.6/100 | £93 | £29,224 | £4,018 |
| 4 | North Devon | 59.9/100 | £105 | £27,526 | £4,536 |
| 5 | North Somerset | 59.8/100 | £100 | £28,749 | £4,320 |
| 6 | West Devon | 59.7/100 | £106 | £28,161 | £4,579 |
| 7 | Torbay | 59.5/100 | £104 | £28,066 | £4,493 |
| 8 | Teignbridge | 59.3/100 | £107 | £28,636 | £4,622 |
| 9 | Cornwall | 59.2/100 | £115 | £27,006 | £4,968 |
| 10 | Somerset | 59/100 | £107 | £29,152 | £4,622 |
| 11 | Wiltshire | 57.8/100 | £115 | £30,000 | £4,968 |
| 12 | Gloucester | 57.7/100 | £107 | £30,796 | £4,622 |
| 13 | Dorset | 57.5/100 | £124 | £29,292 | £5,357 |
| 14 | East Devon | 57/100 | £115 | £31,874 | £4,968 |
| 15 | South Hams | 56.9/100 | £135 | £28,329 | £5,832 |
| 16 | Stroud | 56.3/100 | £117 | £32,495 | £5,054 |
| 17 | Cotswold | 55.7/100 | £153 | £29,655 | £6,610 |
| 18 | Plymouth | 55/100 | £132 | £30,346 | £5,702 |
| 19 | Bath and North East Somerset | 54.7/100 | £134 | £32,004 | £5,789 |
| 20 | Exeter | 54.4/100 | £142 | £30,138 | £6,134 |
| 21 | Swindon | 54/100 | £130 | £32,933 | £5,616 |
| 22 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 53.4/100 | £149 | £31,121 | £6,437 |
| 23 | South Gloucestershire | 52.4/100 | £127 | £36,920 | £5,486 |
| 24 | Bristol, City of | 50.8/100 | £146 | £36,652 | £6,307 |
| 25 | Tewkesbury | 48.1/100 | £170 | £37,088 | £7,344 |
| 26 | Cheltenham | 47.8/100 | £185 | £35,202 | £7,992 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for hair & beauty salon premises in South West?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in South West is £93/m²/yr in Forest of Dean. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Forest of Dean ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for hair & beauty salon in Forest of Dean?
- For a 100 m² unit in Forest of Dean, 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.
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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).