United Kingdom — Regional Market index
The United Kingdom regional market index ranks UK cities and towns outside London and the wider South East. Each meets the population, income, and retail infrastructure thresholds established by the co-location regional market framework. The UK offers a geographically concentrated but economically diverse set of qualifying regional markets: mid-sized cities across England, Scotland, and Wales with independent economic bases and retail park infrastructure. Professional demand is anchored by the National Health Service, higher education institutions, and regional private sector employment.
National context
The UK regional commercial property market has undergone significant structural change since 2010. Legacy high-street retail vacancy and town-centre office supply contraction have concentrated in secondary and tertiary town centres, creating conditions where purpose-built professional centre co-location outside traditional commercial cores is increasingly viable.
The National Health Service functions as a significant anchor for professional demand in UK regional markets. Large NHS trusts in cities of 100,000 and above generate consistent demand for specialist medical, legal, financial, and administrative services, and these populate professional centre tenant mixes.
The UK retail park format — large-format out-of-town retail combining grocery, DIY, and general merchandise — is the primary power centre analogue. The presence of Costco, B&Q, or Screwfix alongside a Sainsbury's or Tesco superstore with a large format confirms income and demand conditions. Retail park planning permission under Use Class E (commercial) has stabilised following multiple regulatory changes, providing a clearer investment signal than earlier planning frameworks.
Coverage by region
North of England — markets across Yorkshire (Leeds secondary areas, Sheffield surrounds, York), the North West beyond Greater Manchester (Warrington, Preston, Lancaster, Kendal), the North East (Newcastle secondary areas, Sunderland, Durham), and Cumbria.
Midlands — markets across the West Midlands beyond Birmingham's primary core (Coventry, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Solihull), and the East Midlands (Leicester surrounds, Derby, Nottingham secondary areas, Lincoln, Northampton).
East of England — Cambridge secondary markets, Norwich, Ipswich, Chelmsford, Colchester, Peterborough.
Wales — Cardiff secondary areas, Swansea, Newport, and the A55 corridor markets in North Wales.
Scotland — Edinburgh secondary areas, Glasgow secondary markets, Aberdeen, Inverness, Perth, and Dundee.
Correction (2026-07-16): most previously-named sample markets do verify against the real TOP400 data below — Northampton, Warrington, and York all appear, and Chester appears under its full local-authority name, Cheshire West and Chester. Inverness is the one exception: it does not appear among the UK's 81 verified TOP400 entries, despite being named above as a primary Scotland market. As with the other country pages, this doesn't mean Inverness isn't a real market — it means it is not currently ranked in the TOP400 co-location screen specifically.
Ranked markets
This table is a filtered, UK-specific view of the continental Top 400 Regional Markets — Europe table — not a separate dataset — so every rank, score, and tier count matches the continental table exactly and updates automatically if that table is corrected. UK entries are recorded at the local-authority level (e.g. "Cheshire West and Chester," "East Riding of Yorkshire") rather than by settlement name.
| Rank | Market | Suburb of | km | T1 | T2 | T3 | Civic | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Fife | Edinburgh | 19 | 0 | 3 | 1 | Yes | 10.5 |
| 10 | Milton Keynes | Luton | 27 | 1 | 0 | 2 | Yes | 9.0 |
| 14 | Hertsmere | London | 22 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Yes | 9.0 |
| 27 | Wiltshire | Bath | — | 0 | 2 | 2 | — | 9.0 |
| 28 | Cheshire East | Manchester | — | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 9.0 |
| 30 | Hillingdon | London | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 7.5 |
| 31 | Derby | Nottingham | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 7.5 |
| 32 | Cheshire West and Chester | Wigan | — | 1 | 0 | 1 | — | 7.5 |
| 54 | Durham | Newcastle | — | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 7.5 |
| 55 | East Riding of Yorkshire | Leeds | — | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 7.5 |
| 57 | Thurrock | London | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 58 | Gloucester | Bristol | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 59 | Rushmoor | Reading | — | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 265 | Stevenage | Luton | — | 0 | 1 | 2 | — | 6.0 |
| 266 | York | Leeds | — | 0 | 1 | 2 | — | 6.0 |
| 267 | Redbridge | London | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 268 | Wakefield | Leeds | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 269 | Ipswich | Cambridge | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 270 | East Hertfordshire | Luton | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 271 | North Lincolnshire | Sheffield | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 272 | Herefordshire | Birmingham | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 273 | Carmarthenshire | Swansea | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 274 | Peterborough | Cambridge | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 275 | High Peak | Manchester | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 276 | Huntingdonshire | Cambridge | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 277 | Darlington | Newcastle | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 278 | East Staffordshire | Birmingham | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 279 | Mid Sussex | Brighton | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 280 | Mendip | Bath | — | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 6.0 |
| 287 | Liverpool | Wigan | — | 0 | 0 | 3 | — | 4.5 |
| 289 | Havering | London | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 290 | Enfield | London | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 291 | Sefton | Wigan | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 292 | Havant | Southampton | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 293 | Stroud | Bristol | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 294 | Warrington | Wigan | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 295 | Newport | Cardiff | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 296 | Saint Edmundsbury | Cambridge | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 297 | Colchester | Cambridge | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 298 | Warwick | Birmingham | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 299 | Lincoln | Nottingham | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 300 | Cheltenham | Bristol | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 301 | Stoke-on-Trent | Manchester | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 302 | Stafford | Birmingham | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 303 | Chelmsford | London | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 304 | Mole Valley | London | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 305 | Swindon | Oxford | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 306 | Barnsley | Sheffield | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 307 | Taunton Deane | Cardiff | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 308 | Perthshire and Kinross | Dundee | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 309 | South Somerset | Bath | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 310 | Doncaster | Sheffield | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 311 | Basingstoke and Deane | Reading | — | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4.5 |
| 365 | Spelthorne | London | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 366 | Bexley | London | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 367 | Wirral | Wigan | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 368 | Cherwell | Oxford | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 369 | Kingston upon Hull | Leeds | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 370 | Medway | London | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 371 | Arun | Brighton | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 372 | Northampton | Coventry | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 373 | Eastbourne | Brighton | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 374 | Bedford | Luton | — | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | 3.0 |
| 383 | Dartford | London | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 384 | Pembrokeshire | Swansea | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 385 | Wycombe | Reading | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 386 | West Oxfordshire | Oxford | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 387 | West Berkshire | Reading | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 388 | Walsall | Birmingham | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 389 | Mansfield | Nottingham | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 390 | Ashfield | Nottingham | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 391 | Tunbridge Wells | Brighton | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 392 | Forest Heath | Cambridge | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 393 | Epping Forest | London | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 394 | Braintree | Cambridge | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 395 | Stratford-on-Avon | Birmingham | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 396 | West Lindsey | Sheffield | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 397 | Cotswold | Bath | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 398 | Sevenoaks | London | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 399 | East Ayrshire | Glasgow | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
| 400 | Cannock Chase | Birmingham | — | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3.0 |
See also
- Top 400 Regional Markets — Europe — the full European ranked list this page filters
- Regional Markets intelligence system — the co-location methodology and market selection criteria