Best areas to open superstore / hypermarket in South West
20 South West local authorities ranked by the Gera Business Location Score — real rent, wages, rates and market density.
Where is the best place to open a superstore or hypermarket in South West?
In South West, the best area to open a superstore or hypermarket is South Hams, with a Gera Business Location Score of 59.4/100: premises at £170/m²/yr and local median pay £28,329. Bristol, City of ranks lowest of 20 South West authorities at 44.3/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top South West area for superstore / hypermarket: South Hams.
How this is calculatedSouth West ranked for superstore / hypermarket
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Hams | 59.4/100 | £170 | £28,329 | £7,344 |
| 2 | Cornwall | 59/100 | £160 | £27,006 | £6,912 |
| 3 | North Devon | 55.7/100 | £182 | £27,526 | £7,862 |
| 4 | Somerset | 52.5/100 | £180 | £29,152 | £7,776 |
| 5 | Mid Devon | 51.6/100 | £178 | £29,224 | £7,690 |
| 6 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 51.1/100 | £181 | £31,121 | £7,819 |
| 7 | Plymouth | 51.1/100 | £170 | £30,346 | £7,344 |
| 8 | Dorset | 51/100 | £201 | £29,292 | £8,683 |
| 9 | Wiltshire | 50.9/100 | £181 | £30,000 | £7,819 |
| 10 | South Gloucestershire | 50.7/100 | £148 | £36,920 | £6,394 |
| 11 | Teignbridge | 50.2/100 | £192 | £28,636 | £8,294 |
| 12 | Swindon | 49.5/100 | £169 | £32,933 | £7,301 |
| 13 | North Somerset | 49.4/100 | £194 | £28,749 | £8,381 |
| 14 | Gloucester | 49.4/100 | £183 | £30,796 | £7,906 |
| 15 | Stroud | 49.4/100 | £183 | £32,495 | £7,906 |
| 16 | East Devon | 48.9/100 | £197 | £31,874 | £8,510 |
| 17 | Exeter | 48.9/100 | £193 | £30,138 | £8,338 |
| 18 | Bath and North East Somerset | 47/100 | £201 | £32,004 | £8,683 |
| 19 | Cheltenham | 46.8/100 | £199 | £35,202 | £8,597 |
| 20 | Bristol, City of | 44.3/100 | £190 | £36,652 | £8,208 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for superstore / hypermarket premises in South West?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in South West is £148/m²/yr in South Gloucestershire. On the combined Gera Business Location Score, which also weighs wages and demand, South Hams ranks #1.
- How much are business rates for superstore / hypermarket in South Hams?
- For a 100 m² unit in South Hams, business rates are roughly £7,344/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £17,000/yr rent — before Small Business Rate Relief.
Opening a superstore or hypermarket in South West?
Set up your UK GDPR and EU AI Act compliance from day one with a fixed-scope GeraCompliance sprint.
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).