Best areas to open large food store in Wales
19 Wales 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 Wales?
In Wales, the best area to open a large food store is Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro, with a Gera Business Location Score of 67.5/100: premises at £113/m²/yr and local median pay £26,535. Cardiff / Caerdydd ranks lowest of 19 Wales authorities at 54/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top Wales area for large food store: Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro.
How this is calculatedWales ranked for large food store
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro | 67.5/100 | £113 | £26,535 | £4,882 |
| 2 | Powys | 67.4/100 | £117 | £26,839 | £5,054 |
| 3 | Conwy | 67.1/100 | £123 | £26,961 | £5,314 |
| 4 | Gwynedd | 66.8/100 | £131 | £25,217 | £5,659 |
| 5 | Denbighshire / Sir Ddinbych | 63.5/100 | £141 | £27,011 | £6,091 |
| 6 | Isle of Anglesey / Ynys Môn | 62.7/100 | £123 | £29,867 | £5,314 |
| 7 | Carmarthenshire / Sir Gaerfyrddin | 62.6/100 | £124 | £29,835 | £5,357 |
| 8 | Blaenau Gwent | 62.3/100 | £134 | £26,241 | £5,789 |
| 9 | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 61.8/100 | £124 | £28,454 | £5,357 |
| 10 | Vale of Glamorgan / Bro Morgannwg | 61.4/100 | £133 | £28,528 | £5,746 |
| 11 | Bridgend / Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr | 61.2/100 | £128 | £30,377 | £5,530 |
| 12 | Monmouthshire / Sir Fynwy | 61.2/100 | £122 | £32,805 | £5,270 |
| 13 | Caerphilly / Caerffili | 61/100 | £129 | £28,187 | £5,573 |
| 14 | Wrexham / Wrecsam | 58.9/100 | £138 | £30,080 | £5,962 |
| 15 | Neath Port Talbot / Castell-nedd Port Talbot | 58.5/100 | £137 | £30,055 | £5,918 |
| 16 | Swansea / Abertawe | 57.5/100 | £148 | £31,348 | £6,394 |
| 17 | Flintshire / Sir y Fflint | 56.7/100 | £138 | £34,480 | £5,962 |
| 18 | Newport / Casnewydd | 54.8/100 | £165 | £32,340 | £7,128 |
| 19 | Cardiff / Caerdydd | 54/100 | £168 | £33,599 | £7,258 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for large food store premises in Wales?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in Wales is £113/m²/yr in Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for large food store in Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro?
- For a 100 m² unit in Pembrokeshire / Sir Benfro, business rates are roughly £4,882/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £11,300/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
Opening a large food store in Wales?
Set up your UK GDPR and EU AI Act compliance from day one with a fixed-scope GeraCompliance 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).