Best UK areas to open restaurant
315 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 restaurant in 2026?
The best UK area to open a restaurant is Gwynedd (Wales), with a Gera Business Location Score of 67.6/100: premises at £68/m²/yr and local median pay of £25,217. Westminster ranks lowest at 16.9/100. Ranked across 315 local authorities from 2025 government open data; re-dated annually.
Top 10 areas for restaurant
| # | Local authority | Region | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gwynedd | Wales | 67.6/100 | £68 | £25,217 | £2,938 |
| 2 | Blaenau Gwent | Wales | 66.4/100 | £43 | £26,241 | £1,858 |
| 3 | Powys | Wales | 65.9/100 | £68 | £26,839 | £2,938 |
| 4 | Staffordshire Moorlands | West Midlands | 65.6/100 | £64 | £26,204 | £2,765 |
| 5 | Oadby and Wigston | East Midlands | 65.5/100 | £71 | £23,103 | £3,067 |
| 6 | South Tyneside | North East | 65.3/100 | £63 | £25,490 | £2,722 |
| 7 | Blackpool | North West | 65.1/100 | £72 | £27,064 | £3,110 |
| 8 | Conwy | Wales | 65.1/100 | £83 | £26,961 | £3,586 |
| 9 | Denbighshire / Sir Ddinbych | Wales | 65/100 | £68 | £27,011 | £2,938 |
| 10 | Great Yarmouth | East | 64.9/100 | £74 | £26,484 | £3,197 |
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 restaurant within £2,000/month
- 1GwyneddWalesGBLS 67.6≈ £649/mo
- 2Blaenau GwentWalesGBLS 66.4≈ £411/mo
- 3PowysWalesGBLS 65.9≈ £649/mo
- 4Staffordshire MoorlandsWest MidlandsGBLS 65.6≈ £611/mo
- 5Oadby and WigstonEast MidlandsGBLS 65.5≈ £678/mo
- 6South TynesideNorth EastGBLS 65.3≈ £601/mo
- 7BlackpoolNorth WestGBLS 65.1≈ £687/mo
- 8ConwyWalesGBLS 65.1≈ £792/mo
- 9Denbighshire / Sir DdinbychWalesGBLS 65≈ £649/mo
- 10Great YarmouthEastGBLS 64.9≈ £706/mo
- 11Isle of Anglesey / Ynys MônWalesGBLS 64.9≈ £659/mo
- 12Pembrokeshire / Sir BenfroWalesGBLS 64.8≈ £869/mo
- 13HyndburnNorth WestGBLS 64.7≈ £573/mo
- 14Forest of DeanSouth WestGBLS 64.7≈ £726/mo
- 15Redcar and ClevelandNorth EastGBLS 64.5≈ £554/mo
Restaurant by region
Frequently asked questions
- Where is the cheapest place to open a restaurant in the UK?
- By premises cost alone, the lowest VOA rateable value among the 315 ranked areas is £43/m²/yr in Blaenau Gwent. But the Gera Business Location Score also weighs local wages and market demand: on the combined score, Gwynedd ranks #1 at 67.6/100.
- How much is rent and business rates for restaurant premises in Gwynedd?
- In Gwynedd, the VOA rateable value for this property type is £68 per m² per year. For a 100 m² unit that is about £6,800/yr rent, plus roughly £2,938/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.
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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).