Best areas to open large food store in West Midlands
21 West Midlands 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 West Midlands?
In West Midlands, the best area to open a large food store is Herefordshire, County of, with a Gera Business Location Score of 63.2/100: premises at £150/m²/yr and local median pay £28,366. Stratford-on-Avon ranks lowest of 21 West Midlands authorities at 50.1/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top West Midlands area for large food store: Herefordshire, County of.
How this is calculatedWest Midlands ranked for large food store
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Herefordshire, County of | 63.2/100 | £150 | £28,366 | £6,480 |
| 2 | Shropshire | 63/100 | £135 | £28,397 | £5,832 |
| 3 | Cannock Chase | 63/100 | £123 | £29,719 | £5,314 |
| 4 | Stafford | 63/100 | £130 | £28,523 | £5,616 |
| 5 | Staffordshire Moorlands | 62.1/100 | £138 | £26,204 | £5,962 |
| 6 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 61.4/100 | £139 | £27,238 | £6,005 |
| 7 | Dudley | 61.4/100 | £135 | £29,071 | £5,832 |
| 8 | Tamworth | 61.1/100 | £137 | £28,143 | £5,918 |
| 9 | Sandwell | 60.6/100 | £146 | £28,766 | £6,307 |
| 10 | Walsall | 60.5/100 | £143 | £28,691 | £6,178 |
| 11 | Stoke-on-Trent | 60.1/100 | £133 | £30,767 | £5,746 |
| 12 | Wolverhampton | 60.1/100 | £130 | £32,053 | £5,616 |
| 13 | Bromsgrove | 60/100 | £157 | £27,494 | £6,782 |
| 14 | East Staffordshire | 59.2/100 | £141 | £31,048 | £6,091 |
| 15 | Birmingham | 58.8/100 | £138 | £33,374 | £5,962 |
| 16 | Wychavon | 58.7/100 | £148 | £32,022 | £6,394 |
| 17 | Nuneaton and Bedworth | 58.6/100 | £134 | £31,319 | £5,789 |
| 18 | Worcester | 58.5/100 | £156 | £30,003 | £6,739 |
| 19 | Telford and Wrekin | 58.4/100 | £146 | £30,601 | £6,307 |
| 20 | Coventry | 56/100 | £133 | £35,124 | £5,746 |
| 21 | Stratford-on-Avon | 50.1/100 | £152 | £42,929 | £6,566 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for large food store premises in West Midlands?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in West Midlands is £123/m²/yr in Cannock Chase. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Herefordshire, County of ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for large food store in Herefordshire, County of?
- For a 100 m² unit in Herefordshire, County of, business rates are roughly £6,480/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £15,000/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
Opening a large food store in West Midlands?
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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).