Best areas to open workshop / warehouse 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 workshop or small warehouse in West Midlands?
In West Midlands, the best area to open a workshop or small warehouse is Staffordshire Moorlands, with a Gera Business Location Score of 66.5/100: premises at £30/m²/yr and local median pay £26,204. Solihull ranks lowest of 30 West Midlands authorities at 54/100. From 2025 UK government open data; re-dated annually.
Gera Business Location Score
Top West Midlands area for workshop / warehouse: Staffordshire Moorlands.
How this is calculatedWest Midlands ranked for workshop / warehouse
| # | Local authority | GBLS | Rent (£/m²/yr) | Local pay | Rates / 100 m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Staffordshire Moorlands | 66.5/100 | £30 | £26,204 | £1,296 |
| 2 | Herefordshire, County of | 65.1/100 | £35 | £28,366 | £1,512 |
| 3 | Shropshire | 64.5/100 | £34 | £28,397 | £1,469 |
| 4 | Wyre Forest | 63.8/100 | £40 | £27,346 | £1,728 |
| 5 | Malvern Hills | 63.5/100 | £44 | £27,744 | £1,901 |
| 6 | Sandwell | 63.3/100 | £39 | £28,766 | £1,685 |
| 7 | Newcastle-under-Lyme | 63.1/100 | £40 | £27,238 | £1,728 |
| 8 | Dudley | 63.1/100 | £40 | £29,071 | £1,728 |
| 9 | Walsall | 63/100 | £40 | £28,691 | £1,728 |
| 10 | Stoke-on-Trent | 62.4/100 | £36 | £30,767 | £1,555 |
| 11 | Telford and Wrekin | 62.4/100 | £38 | £30,601 | £1,642 |
| 12 | Lichfield | 62.4/100 | £44 | £28,845 | £1,901 |
| 13 | Stafford | 62.4/100 | £43 | £28,523 | £1,858 |
| 14 | South Staffordshire | 62.3/100 | £45 | £28,259 | £1,944 |
| 15 | Cannock Chase | 62.1/100 | £44 | £29,719 | £1,901 |
| 16 | Tamworth | 61.4/100 | £49 | £28,143 | £2,117 |
| 17 | Wolverhampton | 61.4/100 | £38 | £32,053 | £1,642 |
| 18 | East Staffordshire | 61.2/100 | £43 | £31,048 | £1,858 |
| 19 | Redditch | 61.1/100 | £49 | £30,780 | £2,117 |
| 20 | Bromsgrove | 61/100 | £54 | £27,494 | £2,333 |
| 21 | Wychavon | 60.4/100 | £48 | £32,022 | £2,074 |
| 22 | Worcester | 60.1/100 | £48 | £30,003 | £2,074 |
| 23 | Nuneaton and Bedworth | 59.4/100 | £50 | £31,319 | £2,160 |
| 24 | Birmingham | 59.3/100 | £43 | £33,374 | £1,858 |
| 25 | North Warwickshire | 58.8/100 | £51 | £34,564 | £2,203 |
| 26 | Coventry | 57.3/100 | £48 | £35,124 | £2,074 |
| 27 | Rugby | 56/100 | £54 | £36,417 | £2,333 |
| 28 | Warwick | 55.3/100 | £66 | £33,616 | £2,851 |
| 29 | Stratford-on-Avon | 54.7/100 | £47 | £42,929 | £2,030 |
| 30 | Solihull | 54/100 | £63 | £35,794 | £2,722 |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest area for workshop / warehouse premises in West Midlands?
- The lowest VOA rateable value for this property type in West Midlands is £30/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 workshop / warehouse in Staffordshire Moorlands?
- For a 100 m² unit in Staffordshire Moorlands, business rates are roughly £1,296/yr at the 2026-27 small-business multiplier (43.2p), on top of about £3,000/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).