Best areas to open office-based business in East
45 East local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open an office-based business in East?
In East, the best area to open an office-based business is Great Yarmouth, with a Gera Business Location Score of 64.9/100: premises at £62/m²/yr and local median pay £26,484. Cambridge ranks lowest of 45 East authorities at 39.1/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top East area for office-based business: Great Yarmouth.
How this is calculatedEast ranked for office-based business
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Yarmouth | 64.9/100 | £62 | £26,484 | £2,678 |
| 2 | Fenland | 64.2/100 | £68 | £27,005 | £2,938 |
| 3 | North Norfolk | 64.1/100 | £75 | £26,296 | £3,240 |
| 4 | Babergh | 63.5/100 | £88 | £25,785 | £3,802 |
| 5 | Maldon | 62.5/100 | £102 | £25,496 | £4,406 |
| 6 | Tendring | 62/100 | £95 | £27,067 | £4,104 |
| 7 | Breckland | 61.7/100 | £92 | £28,303 | £3,974 |
| 8 | Southend-on-Sea | 61.6/100 | £103 | £26,955 | £4,450 |
| 9 | Castle Point | 61.5/100 | £100 | £27,524 | £4,320 |
| 10 | Rochford | 61.4/100 | £108 | £26,706 | £4,666 |
| 11 | King's Lynn and West Norfolk | 61.4/100 | £80 | £30,544 | £3,456 |
| 12 | East Suffolk | 61.3/100 | £81 | £30,821 | £3,499 |
| 13 | Norwich | 61.2/100 | £98 | £28,457 | £4,234 |
| 14 | Dacorum | 60.8/100 | £171 | £18,675 | £7,387 |
| 15 | South Norfolk | 60.6/100 | £102 | £29,114 | £4,406 |
| 16 | Mid Suffolk | 60.4/100 | £83 | £32,413 | £3,586 |
| 17 | Ipswich | 60.2/100 | £94 | £30,605 | £4,061 |
| 18 | West Suffolk | 59.5/100 | £113 | £29,613 | £4,882 |
| 19 | Peterborough | 59.1/100 | £106 | £31,062 | £4,579 |
| 20 | Luton | 59/100 | £116 | £29,640 | £5,011 |
| 21 | Bedford | 58.9/100 | £96 | £33,148 | £4,147 |
| 22 | North Hertfordshire | 58.5/100 | £103 | £33,409 | £4,450 |
| 23 | Central Bedfordshire | 58.2/100 | £120 | £30,963 | £5,184 |
| 24 | Braintree | 58.2/100 | £112 | £32,175 | £4,838 |
| 25 | Epping Forest | 58.1/100 | £130 | £30,038 | £5,616 |
| 26 | Huntingdonshire | 57.6/100 | £119 | £32,441 | £5,141 |
| 27 | Broxbourne | 57.6/100 | £133 | £29,980 | £5,746 |
| 28 | East Cambridgeshire | 57.5/100 | £134 | £30,232 | £5,789 |
| 29 | Colchester | 57.5/100 | £128 | £31,056 | £5,530 |
| 30 | Harlow | 57.2/100 | £121 | £32,320 | £5,227 |
| 31 | Broadland | 56.9/100 | £125 | £32,576 | £5,400 |
| 32 | Thurrock | 56.8/100 | £113 | £34,388 | £4,882 |
| 33 | Basildon | 56.6/100 | £133 | £32,050 | £5,746 |
| 34 | East Hertfordshire | 55/100 | £156 | £32,293 | £6,739 |
| 35 | Uttlesford | 54.1/100 | £170 | £32,124 | £7,344 |
| 36 | Chelmsford | 53.4/100 | £176 | £32,010 | £7,603 |
| 37 | Brentwood | 52.8/100 | £195 | £30,607 | £8,424 |
| 38 | Stevenage | 50.2/100 | £153 | £41,224 | £6,610 |
| 39 | St Albans | 49.7/100 | £220 | £33,468 | £9,504 |
| 40 | Watford | 49.7/100 | £225 | £31,833 | £9,720 |
| 41 | Welwyn Hatfield | 49.7/100 | £171 | £39,794 | £7,387 |
| 42 | Hertsmere | 48.5/100 | £217 | £36,000 | £9,374 |
| 43 | Three Rivers | 43.2/100 | £235 | £43,202 | £10,152 |
| 44 | South Cambridgeshire | 42.8/100 | £253 | £41,348 | £10,930 |
| 45 | Cambridge | 39.1/100 | £304 | £40,266 | £13,133 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for office-based business premises in East?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in East is £62/m²/yr in Great Yarmouth. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Great Yarmouth ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for office-based business in Great Yarmouth?
- For a 100 m² unit in Great Yarmouth, business rates are roughly £2,678/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £6,200/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).