Best areas to open retail shop in Yorkshire and The Humber
13 Yorkshire and The Humber local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open an independent retail shop in Yorkshire and The Humber?
In Yorkshire and The Humber, the best area to open an independent retail shop is North East Lincolnshire, with a Gera Business Location Score of 65.5/100: premises at £79/m²/yr and local median pay £26,631. York ranks lowest of 13 Yorkshire and The Humber authorities at 55.9/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top Yorkshire and The Humber area for retail shop: North East Lincolnshire.
How this is calculatedYorkshire and The Humber ranked for retail shop
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North East Lincolnshire | 65.5/100 | £79 | £26,631 | £3,413 |
| 2 | Doncaster | 63.7/100 | £82 | £28,928 | £3,542 |
| 3 | Kirklees | 63.7/100 | £91 | £28,821 | £3,931 |
| 4 | North Lincolnshire | 63.6/100 | £72 | £29,973 | £3,110 |
| 5 | Rotherham | 63.4/100 | £80 | £29,088 | £3,456 |
| 6 | East Riding of Yorkshire | 63.3/100 | £85 | £29,355 | £3,672 |
| 7 | Bradford | 63.2/100 | £91 | £29,745 | £3,931 |
| 8 | Calderdale | 63.1/100 | £86 | £30,451 | £3,715 |
| 9 | Kingston upon Hull, City of | 62.9/100 | £81 | £29,790 | £3,499 |
| 10 | North Yorkshire | 62.5/100 | £115 | £29,288 | £4,968 |
| 11 | Wakefield | 62.3/100 | £82 | £30,950 | £3,542 |
| 12 | Leeds | 56.6/100 | £170 | £32,953 | £7,344 |
| 13 | York | 55.9/100 | £197 | £32,151 | £8,510 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for retail shop premises in Yorkshire and The Humber?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in Yorkshire and The Humber is £72/m²/yr in North Lincolnshire. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, North East Lincolnshire ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for retail shop in North East Lincolnshire?
- For a 100 m² unit in North East Lincolnshire, business rates are roughly £3,413/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £7,900/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).