• Skip to main content

SmallBusinessPrices.co.uk

The Cheapest UK Cities to Open a Brick and Mortar Shop

Online businesses became incredibly popular during the country’s various Covid-19 lockdowns, and now that the retail world has reopened its doors many of these small business owners are considering opening their own physical stores. But how affordable is it to open a brick and mortar shop in the UK?

Small Business Prices set out to explore the country’s cheapest cities to open a physical shop, based on metrics such as daily high street footfall, commercial space rental costs, and average hourly rates of contractors like plumbers and electricians. 

Swindon revealed as the cheapest city to open a brick and mortar shop

RankCitiesTotal high street footfallAvg. monthly rent for commercial spaces (£)Avg. price to buy commercial space (£)Average hourly rate for a builder (£)Average hourly rate for an electrician (£)Average hourly rate for a painter decorator (£)Average hourly rate for a plumber (£)Average hourly rate for a handyman (£)
1Swindon21214,120650,0002025152629
2Plymouth36211,256295,0002831223129
3Stoke-on-Trent2396,51070,0002428213420
4Sheffield2069,133185,0003027193423
5Aberdeen2308,250300,0002531213729
6WolverhamptonN/A11,715N/A2433203936
7Derby22511,633147,5002629203827
8Kingston-Upon-Hull25521,724350,0002330203729
9Bradford20610,375213,7502633224115
10Cardiff21414,590496,6672730233427

Our analysis of the UK’s 30 most populous towns and cities found that Swindon is the cheapest place overall for small business owners to open a brick-and-mortar shop. 

Finding a premises to operate out of is relatively affordable compared to other towns and cities in our ranking, with the average price of renting a 100-750 square foot commercial space in Swindon being £14,120 per year. However, buying a property is on the slightly more expensive side with commercial spaces between 100 and 1,000 square feet costing £650,000 on average, which makes it the fourth most expensive to buy in after Reading, Nottingham, and Southampton. 

Hiring builders, electricians, painter-decorators, and plumbers to get the shop in working order is also more affordable in Swindon than anywhere else we analysed, with each of these professionals charging the lowest hourly rate for their services. 

Swindon is the cheapest place to hire a contractor

RankCitiesAverage hourly rate for a builder (£)Average hourly rate for an electrician (£)Average hourly rate for a painter decorator (£)Average hourly rate for a plumber (£)Average hourly rate for a handyman (£)Average hourly rate of all contractors
1Swindon£20£25£15£26£29£115
2Stoke-on-Trent£24£28£21£34£20£127
3Sheffield£30£27£19£34£23£133
4Leicester£23£38£20£36£18£135
5Bradford£26£33£22£41£15£137
6Kingston-Upon-Hull£23£30£20£37£29£139
7Leeds£26£34£23£41£15£139
8Derby£26£29£20£38£27£140
9Plymouth£28£31£22£31£29£141
10Cardiff£27£30£23£34£27£141

Swindon is also revealed as the best location to hire local contractors to help set-up and create your physical shop, costing an average of £115 an hour to have the support of a builder, electrician, painter, plumber and handyman. Stoke-On-Trent and Sheffield sit in second and third place, with the contractors costing £127 and £133 an hour respectively. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London is the most expensive city to have the support of tradespeople, costing an average of £209 per hour, with plumbers valuing their work the most at an average of £50 an hour.

Stoke-on-Trent has the lowest commercial space rental costs

RankCitiesTotal high street footfallAvg.monthly rent for commercial spaces (£)Avg. buy for commercial spaces (£)Average hourly rate for a builder (£)Average hourly rate for an electrician (£)Average hourly rate for a painter decorator (£)Average hourly rate for a plumber (£)Average hourly rate for a handyman (£)
1Stoke-on-Trent2396,51070,0002428213420
2Aberdeen2308,250300,0002531213729
3Sheffield2069,133185,0003027193423
4Glasgow2249,423115,00031324453938
5Bradford20610,375213,7502633224115
6Manchester21310,54050,0002832233828
7Coventry17511,114N/A2433213831
8Plymouth36211,256295,0002831223129
9Derby22511,633147,5002629203827
10Southampton23511,643720,0003038284132

Renting a commercial space rather than buying one gives small business owners the freedom to relocate to another location when the tenancy reaches its end. This level of flexibility could come in handy if the business outgrows the premises a short time after its launch. 

With that in mind, we looked at the cheapest cities and towns to rent a 100-750 square foot commercial space. 

Stoke-on-Trent comes out on top as the most affordable place to rent a shop, with an average monthly cost of £6,510, and Aberdeen comes in second with £8,250. Sheffield is the next most affordable option with rental costs averaging £9,133.

Manchester is the cheapest city to buy a commercial space

RankCitiesTotal high street footfallAvg. monthly rent for commercial spaces (£)Avg. price to buy commercial space (£)Average hourly rate for a builder (£)Average hourly rate for an electrician (£)Average hourly rate for a painter decorator (£)Average hourly rate for a plumber (£)Average hourly rate for a handyman (£)
1Manchester21310,54050,0002832233828
2Stoke-on-Trent2396,51070,0002428213420
3Leicester20113,80091,1252338203618
4Glasgow2249,423115,00031324453938
5Derby22511,633147,5002629203827
6Brighton & Hove22116,543150,0002841504522
7Sheffield2069,133185,0003027193423
8Portsmouth249N/A197,5003038273924
9Bradford20610,375213,7502633224115
10Birmingham18914,656220,0002432203936

Buying a commercial property comes with a little more stability than renting, and it means your ongoing costs are reduced as you won’t need to factor in rent payments. 

According to our research, Manchester is the cheapest place to buy a commercial space, with the average price for a 100-1,000 square foot property being £50,000. After that, Stoke-on-Trent is the second most affordable with an average cost of £70,000, and Leicester comes third with £91,125.

Overall, our research shows that there are plenty of affordable cities and towns for small business owners to open a brick and mortar shop in, with cost-effective contractor rates and fairly-priced commercial spaces in high footfall areas to capitalise on passing trade. 

Methodology

We analysed business costs for the 30 most populous cities across the UK to reveal the cheapest location to open a brick and mortar shop in. We have looked at the average hourly price of hiring contractors e.g builders, electricians, plumbers etc. to carry out work on the retail space per city. Where city specific data was not available, the national average was taken. 

Other metrics included high street footfall data for each city, the monthly average rent for commercial spaces and the average price to buy commercial spaces in each city. Due to the insufficiency of sample data taken to average the “buy for commercial spaces price”, we have excluded it from our final ranking. Therefore, our final ranking includes high street footfall data, average hourly price of hiring contractors and average monthly rent for commercial spaces.

Sources

  • centreforcities.org
  • rightmove.co.uk
  • search.savills.com
  • hamuch.com

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lydia says

    December 11, 2023 at 2:30 pm

    Thank you so much for giving all the details about the prices and cost to open a brick in the UK.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog & Data · About · Contact · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use
Copyright © 2025 SmallBusinessPrices.co.uk
SmallBusinessPrices.co.uk is the trading name of Brilliant British Ltd. Company number 10490224 (Registered in England and Wales), ICO Registration reference: ZA286128, Registered office address: 3rd Floor Great Titchfield House, 14-18 Great Titchfield Street, London, United Kingdom, W1W 8BD.

Disclaimer: SmallBusinessPrices.co.uk is a general business information website. As such it is not authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Therefore, we do not recommend any product, service or company. Nor can we offer any financial advice and/or recommendations.
However, we do work with several companies that are authorised and regulated by the FCA. All lists and comparisons are for information purposes only.
We are not a lender, advisor, insurer or broker.
All information on this website was believed to be accurate at the time publication.
However, prices and availability may have changed between publication and now.
We accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions.
This website is free to use. However, we may times work with companies that may pay us fee.
You are under no obligation to use these companies, but the fees they pay help us keep the site up and running.