Best areas to open restaurant in West Midlands
30 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 restaurant in West Midlands?
In West Midlands, the best area to open a restaurant is Staffordshire Moorlands, with a Gera Business Location Score of 65.6/100: premises at £64/m²/yr and local median pay £26,204. Stratford-on-Avon ranks lowest of 30 West Midlands authorities at 49.5/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top West Midlands area for restaurant: Staffordshire Moorlands.
How this is calculatedWest Midlands ranked for restaurant
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Staffordshire Moorlands | 65.6/100 | £64 | £26,204 | £2,765 |
| 2 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 63.7/100 | £73 | £27,238 | £3,154 |
| 3 | Wyre Forest | 63.4/100 | £78 | £27,346 | £3,370 |
| 4 | Bromsgrove | 62.4/100 | £88 | £27,494 | £3,802 |
| 5 | Stafford | 61.8/100 | £91 | £28,523 | £3,931 |
| 6 | Sandwell | 61.7/100 | £84 | £28,766 | £3,629 |
| 7 | East Staffordshire | 61.6/100 | £76 | £31,048 | £3,283 |
| 8 | Walsall | 61.6/100 | £85 | £28,691 | £3,672 |
| 9 | Malvern Hills | 61.6/100 | £99 | £27,744 | £4,277 |
| 10 | Herefordshire, County of | 61.4/100 | £100 | £28,366 | £4,320 |
| 11 | Shropshire | 61.3/100 | £101 | £28,397 | £4,363 |
| 12 | South Staffordshire | 61.3/100 | £93 | £28,259 | £4,018 |
| 13 | Cannock Chase | 61.1/100 | £88 | £29,719 | £3,802 |
| 14 | Stoke-on-Trent | 61/100 | £79 | £30,767 | £3,413 |
| 15 | Lichfield | 60.9/100 | £99 | £28,845 | £4,277 |
| 16 | Worcester | 60.7/100 | £92 | £30,003 | £3,974 |
| 17 | Dudley | 60.6/100 | £94 | £29,071 | £4,061 |
| 18 | Tamworth | 60.5/100 | £100 | £28,143 | £4,320 |
| 19 | Wychavon | 60.2/100 | £87 | £32,022 | £3,758 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 60.1/100 | £83 | £32,053 | £3,586 |
| 21 | North Warwickshire | 60/100 | £75 | £34,564 | £3,240 |
| 22 | Nuneaton and Bedworth | 59.6/100 | £92 | £31,319 | £3,974 |
| 23 | Rugby | 58.7/100 | £78 | £36,417 | £3,370 |
| 24 | Redditch | 56.7/100 | £129 | £30,780 | £5,573 |
| 25 | Telford and Wrekin | 56.3/100 | £137 | £30,601 | £5,918 |
| 26 | Coventry | 56/100 | £111 | £35,124 | £4,795 |
| 27 | Birmingham | 55/100 | £138 | £33,374 | £5,962 |
| 28 | Warwick | 54.9/100 | £144 | £33,616 | £6,221 |
| 29 | Solihull | 51.6/100 | £162 | £35,794 | £6,998 |
| 30 | Stratford-on-Avon | 49.5/100 | £154 | £42,929 | £6,653 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for restaurant premises in West Midlands?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in West Midlands is £64/m²/yr in Staffordshire Moorlands. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Staffordshire Moorlands ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for restaurant in Staffordshire Moorlands?
- For a 100 m² unit in Staffordshire Moorlands, business rates are roughly £2,765/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £6,400/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
Opening a restaurant 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).