Best areas to open retail warehouse in South East
57 South East local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a retail warehouse / foodstore in South East?
In South East, the best area to open a retail warehouse / foodstore is Winchester, with a Gera Business Location Score of 80.2/100: premises at £139/m²/yr and local median pay £34,568. Guildford ranks lowest of 57 South East authorities at 37.2/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top South East area for retail warehouse: Winchester.
How this is calculatedSouth East ranked for retail warehouse
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Winchester | 80.2/100 | £139 | £34,568 | £6,005 |
| 2 | Isle of Wight | 68.8/100 | £101 | £26,185 | £4,363 |
| 3 | Canterbury | 65.4/100 | £109 | £29,337 | £4,709 |
| 4 | Folkestone and Hythe | 64.2/100 | £100 | £31,907 | £4,320 |
| 5 | Lewes | 63.7/100 | £113 | £32,287 | £4,882 |
| 6 | Wealden | 62.8/100 | £149 | £27,639 | £6,437 |
| 7 | Dover | 62.6/100 | £106 | £31,547 | £4,579 |
| 8 | Ashford | 62/100 | £140 | £29,118 | £6,048 |
| 9 | Arun | 61.6/100 | £136 | £27,461 | £5,875 |
| 10 | Chichester | 61.5/100 | £187 | £28,547 | £8,078 |
| 11 | Hastings | 60.6/100 | £140 | £29,383 | £6,048 |
| 12 | Rother | 60.6/100 | £178 | £27,732 | £7,690 |
| 13 | Fareham | 60.5/100 | £109 | £32,895 | £4,709 |
| 14 | Swale | 60.3/100 | £109 | £29,831 | £4,709 |
| 15 | Thanet | 60.1/100 | £154 | £27,076 | £6,653 |
| 16 | Mid Sussex | 59.6/100 | £138 | £31,401 | £5,962 |
| 17 | Southampton | 59.2/100 | £130 | £33,878 | £5,616 |
| 18 | Eastbourne | 58.5/100 | £170 | £26,893 | £7,344 |
| 19 | Cherwell | 58.4/100 | £156 | £33,207 | £6,739 |
| 20 | Sevenoaks | 58.1/100 | £162 | £28,537 | £6,998 |
| 21 | Dartford | 57.8/100 | £160 | £32,428 | £6,912 |
| 22 | West Oxfordshire | 57.2/100 | £142 | £34,006 | £6,134 |
| 23 | Havant | 56.9/100 | £152 | £30,573 | £6,566 |
| 24 | Portsmouth | 56.8/100 | £132 | £33,015 | £5,702 |
| 25 | Test Valley | 56.7/100 | £136 | £33,566 | £5,875 |
| 26 | Waverley | 56.2/100 | £182 | £31,083 | £7,862 |
| 27 | Worthing | 55.5/100 | £180 | £29,044 | £7,776 |
| 28 | Windsor and Maidenhead | 55.4/100 | £173 | £34,570 | £7,474 |
| 29 | Medway | 55.2/100 | £148 | £30,784 | £6,394 |
| 30 | Maidstone | 55.1/100 | £164 | £31,986 | £7,085 |
| 31 | Gravesham | 55/100 | £139 | £34,455 | £6,005 |
| 32 | Tunbridge Wells | 54.2/100 | £228 | £30,296 | £9,850 |
| 33 | Basingstoke and Deane | 54/100 | £128 | £35,492 | £5,530 |
| 34 | Eastleigh | 53.9/100 | £141 | £35,362 | £6,091 |
| 35 | Adur | 53.3/100 | £200 | £28,238 | £8,640 |
| 36 | Gosport | 52.7/100 | £150 | £30,518 | £6,480 |
| 37 | Horsham | 52.5/100 | £190 | £32,334 | £8,208 |
| 38 | Milton Keynes | 50.8/100 | £174 | £36,521 | £7,517 |
| 39 | Buckinghamshire | 50.1/100 | £202 | £33,367 | £8,726 |
| 40 | Brighton and Hove | 50/100 | £238 | £33,649 | £10,282 |
| 41 | Rushmoor | 49.9/100 | £176 | £34,238 | £7,603 |
| 42 | West Berkshire | 48.9/100 | £178 | £35,806 | £7,690 |
| 43 | Vale of White Horse | 48.7/100 | £155 | £38,134 | £6,696 |
| 44 | Slough | 47.6/100 | £193 | £38,578 | £8,338 |
| 45 | Wokingham | 47.4/100 | £163 | £38,552 | £7,042 |
| 46 | Tonbridge and Malling | 46.6/100 | £208 | £31,472 | £8,986 |
| 47 | Epsom and Ewell | 46.2/100 | £214 | £33,824 | £9,245 |
| 48 | Reading | 44.4/100 | £180 | £44,956 | £7,776 |
| 49 | Woking | 43.8/100 | £229 | £35,258 | £9,893 |
| 50 | Spelthorne | 43.3/100 | £265 | £32,237 | £11,448 |
| 51 | Oxford | 42.7/100 | £213 | £38,779 | £9,202 |
| 52 | Crawley | 42.7/100 | £227 | £36,053 | £9,806 |
| 53 | Reigate and Banstead | 41.9/100 | £219 | £39,073 | £9,461 |
| 54 | Surrey Heath | 41.7/100 | £248 | £36,632 | £10,714 |
| 55 | Runnymede | 41.2/100 | £212 | £40,000 | £9,158 |
| 56 | Bracknell Forest | 40.7/100 | £221 | £37,063 | £9,547 |
| 57 | Guildford | 37.2/100 | £280 | £38,027 | £12,096 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for retail warehouse premises in South East?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in South East is £100/m²/yr in Folkestone and Hythe. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, Winchester ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for retail warehouse in Winchester?
- For a 100 m² unit in Winchester, business rates are roughly £6,005/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £13,900/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).