Best UK areas to open large food store
245 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 large food store in 2026?
The best UK area to open a large food store is Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro (Wales), with a Gera Business Location Score of 67.5/100: premises at £113/m²/yr and local median pay of £26,535. Westminster ranks lowest at 30/100. Ranked across 245 local authorities from 2025 government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top area for large food store: Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro.
How this is calculatedTop 10 areas for large food store
| # | Local authority | Region | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro | Wales | 67.5/100 | £113 | £26,535 | £4,882 |
| 2 | Powys | Wales | 67.4/100 | £117 | £26,839 | £5,054 |
| 3 | Conwy | Wales | 67.1/100 | £123 | £26,961 | £5,314 |
| 4 | East Lindsey | East Midlands | 67/100 | £135 | £26,724 | £5,832 |
| 5 | Gwynedd | Wales | 66.8/100 | £131 | £25,217 | £5,659 |
| 6 | North Norfolk | East | 65.6/100 | £159 | £26,296 | £6,869 |
| 7 | Derbyshire Dales | East Midlands | 65.4/100 | £145 | £28,874 | £6,264 |
| 8 | Broxtowe | East Midlands | 65.3/100 | £102 | £27,113 | £4,406 |
| 9 | Dacorum | East | 65.3/100 | £180 | £18,675 | £7,776 |
| 10 | South Holland | East Midlands | 65/100 | £108 | £27,809 | £4,666 |
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 large food store within £2,000/month
- 1Pembrokeshire / Sir BenfroWalesGBLS 67.5≈ £1,079/mo
- 2PowysWalesGBLS 67.4≈ £1,117/mo
- 3ConwyWalesGBLS 67.1≈ £1,174/mo
- 4East LindseyEast MidlandsGBLS 67≈ £1,289/mo
- 5GwyneddWalesGBLS 66.8≈ £1,251/mo
- 6North NorfolkEastGBLS 65.6≈ £1,518/mo
- 7Derbyshire DalesEast MidlandsGBLS 65.4≈ £1,384/mo
- 8BroxtoweEast MidlandsGBLS 65.3≈ £974/mo
- 9DacorumEastGBLS 65.3≈ £1,718/mo
- 10South HollandEast MidlandsGBLS 65≈ £1,031/mo
- 11BostonEast MidlandsGBLS 64.1≈ £1,260/mo
- 12North East LincolnshireYorkshire and The HumberGBLS 63.9≈ £1,346/mo
- 13GedlingEast MidlandsGBLS 63.9≈ £1,184/mo
- 14BlackpoolNorth WestGBLS 63.8≈ £1,384/mo
- 15Newark and SherwoodEast MidlandsGBLS 63.7≈ £1,356/mo
Large food store by region
Frequently asked questions
- Where is the cheapest place to open a large food store in the UK?
- By premises cost alone, the lowest VOA rateable value among the 245 ranked areas is £102/m²/yr in Broxtowe. But the Gera Business Location Score also weighs local wages and market demand: on the combined score, Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro ranks #1 at 67.5/100.
- How much is rent and business rates for large food store premises in Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro?
- In Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro, the VOA rateable value for this property type is £113 per m² per year. For a 100 m² unit that is about £11,300/yr rent, plus roughly £4,882/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 large food store? 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).