Best areas to open large food store in London
29 London local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a large food store in London?
In London, the best area to open a large food store is Redbridge, with a Gera Business Location Score of 61.9/100: premises at £152/m²/yr and local median pay £28,125. Westminster ranks lowest of 29 London authorities at 30/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
London ranked for large food store
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Redbridge | 61.9/100 | £152 | £28,125 | £6,566 |
| 2 | Hackney | 60.3/100 | £129 | £37,736 | £5,573 |
| 3 | Waltham Forest | 59.8/100 | £156 | £28,880 | £6,739 |
| 4 | Brent | 58.8/100 | £150 | £32,335 | £6,480 |
| 5 | Harrow | 58.5/100 | £162 | £32,208 | £6,998 |
| 6 | Barnet | 58.3/100 | £183 | £30,926 | £7,906 |
| 7 | Haringey | 57/100 | £202 | £27,716 | £8,726 |
| 8 | Bexley | 56.3/100 | £182 | £27,441 | £7,862 |
| 9 | Greenwich | 55.6/100 | £171 | £30,787 | £7,387 |
| 10 | Barking and Dagenham | 55.4/100 | £165 | £32,433 | £7,128 |
| 11 | Enfield | 55/100 | £192 | £31,252 | £8,294 |
| 12 | Havering | 54.5/100 | £177 | £31,874 | £7,646 |
| 13 | Bromley | 53.1/100 | £180 | £33,520 | £7,776 |
| 14 | Ealing | 52.3/100 | £206 | £33,592 | £8,899 |
| 15 | Hillingdon | 51.8/100 | £177 | £37,941 | £7,646 |
| 16 | Merton | 51.4/100 | £209 | £32,983 | £9,029 |
| 17 | Newham | 51/100 | £176 | £39,117 | £7,603 |
| 18 | Croydon | 49.9/100 | £195 | £34,987 | £8,424 |
| 19 | Lewisham | 49.5/100 | £191 | £34,965 | £8,251 |
| 20 | Hounslow | 47.6/100 | £210 | £38,422 | £9,072 |
| 21 | Kingston upon Thames | 46.8/100 | £252 | £36,898 | £10,886 |
| 22 | Richmond upon Thames | 44.1/100 | £280 | £35,263 | £12,096 |
| 23 | Islington | 42.9/100 | £223 | £49,624 | £9,634 |
| 24 | Hammersmith and Fulham | 41.7/100 | £254 | £44,042 | £10,973 |
| 25 | Camden | 41.3/100 | £318 | £48,822 | £13,738 |
| 26 | Wandsworth | 39.5/100 | £280 | £37,534 | £12,096 |
| 27 | Lambeth | 37.4/100 | £255 | £42,039 | £11,016 |
| 28 | Southwark | 36/100 | £246 | £47,136 | £10,627 |
| 29 | Westminster | 30/100 | £537 | £49,973 | £23,198 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for large food store premises in London?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in London is £129/m²/yr in Hackney. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Redbridge ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for large food store in Redbridge?
- For a 100 m² unit in Redbridge, business rates are roughly £6,566/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £15,200/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).