Where hobbies & interests is growing in the UK
921 hobbies & interests outlets across 4 brands are in the h3hex Data Store in the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables Glasgow City has the most, with 12; the top 25 local areas together hold 195 (21% of outlets with a mapped local area). The largest like-for-like net gain since the previous release is in Buckinghamshire (+1).
Outlet and brand counts are the Data Store's: every brand on sale, with every outlet in its file. The local-area and growth tables count the trading outlets in h3hex's master dataset that map to a local area, so their totals can be lower.
Which local areas have the most hobbies & interests outlets?
| # | Local area | Outlets | Brands present | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Glasgow City | 12 | 4: The Works, Waterstones, Hamleys, Hobbycraft | - |
| 2 | Birmingham | 11 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.1 |
| 3 | Buckinghamshire | 11 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.2 |
| 4 | ONS area E06000066 | 11 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.2 |
| 5 | Cheshire East | 10 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.2 |
| 6 | ONS area E06000065 | 10 | 2: The Works, Waterstones | 0.2 |
| 7 | City of Edinburgh | 9 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | - |
| 8 | Leeds | 9 | 3: The Works, Hobbycraft, Waterstones | 0.1 |
| 9 | Wiltshire | 9 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.2 |
| 10 | Cornwall | 8 | 3: The Works, Hobbycraft, Waterstones | 0.1 |
| 11 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 7 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.2 |
| 12 | Camden | 7 | 3: Waterstones, Hamleys, The Works | 0.3 |
| 13 | North Northamptonshire | 7 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.2 |
| 14 | Sheffield | 7 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.1 |
| 15 | York | 7 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.3 |
| 16 | Belfast | 6 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | - |
| 17 | Brighton and Hove | 6 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.2 |
| 18 | Cheshire West and Chester | 6 | 3: The Works, Hobbycraft, Waterstones | 0.2 |
| 19 | County Durham | 6 | 2: The Works, Waterstones | 0.1 |
| 20 | Dorset | 6 | 3: The Works, Waterstones, Hobbycraft | 0.2 |
| 21 | Fife | 6 | 2: The Works, Waterstones | - |
| 22 | Northumberland | 6 | 2: The Works, Waterstones | 0.2 |
| 23 | Solihull | 6 | 3: The Works, Hobbycraft, Waterstones | 0.3 |
| 24 | Wandsworth | 6 | 2: Waterstones, The Works | 0.2 |
| 25 | West Northamptonshire | 6 | 3: The Works, Hobbycraft, Waterstones | 0.1 |
Local areas are local authority districts. Brands present shows how many brands have an outlet there and the five with the most.
Which local areas added the most hobbies & interests outlets?
| # | Local area | Net change | Previous release | This release | All outlets now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Buckinghamshire | +1 | 10 | 11 | 11 |
| 2 | Mid Sussex | +1 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | West Suffolk | +1 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| 4 | Glasgow City | 0 | 11 | 11 | 12 |
| 5 | ONS area E06000066 | 0 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| 6 | Birmingham | 0 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| 7 | Cheshire East | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 8 | ONS area E06000065 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| 9 | Wiltshire | 0 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 10 | Leeds | 0 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 11 | City of Edinburgh | 0 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 12 | Cornwall | 0 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| 13 | York | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 14 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 15 | North Northamptonshire | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Net change in outlets for brands present in both releases, for local areas with at least 5 outlets in the sector. 1 brand in this sector first appears in this release and is left out of the growth table, so that adding a brand to the data is never counted as an area growing.
How these figures are made
Counts are h3hex's own store-by-store record of each brand's published UK locations for the brands listed in the Hobbies & Interests sector of the h3hex data store, November 2026 release (scrape window 30 Oct - 3 Nov 2026), page built 2026-11-12. Closed, pre-opening and head-office records are left out. 1 outlets with no mappable postcode are counted in the totals but not in the local-area tables. 4 districts created in 2023 are shown by their ONS code because the postcode lookup used here carries no name for them. Net change compares this release with the 29 October 2026 edition of the same dataset and reflects openings and closures as well as improved coverage of each brand's own locator. Resident population is Census 2021 usual-resident population by output area, summed to local authority district through the ONS postcode-to-output-area lookup (May 2024). The population table does not join to the lookup for districts in Northern Ireland and Scotland, so outlets per 10,000 residents is shown as - for them.
Use the data
Prospect site reports assess a single address against these brands, and the data store sells the hobbies & interests store lists brand by brand or as a sector bundle.
Hobbies & Interests by sector
- Arts & crafts retailer611 outlets · 2 brands
How many hobbies & interests outlets are there in the UK?
h3hex tracks 921 branded hobbies & interests outlets from 4 brands in the UK as at the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables, Glasgow City has the most, with 12.
Which hobbies & interests brands are growing?
Between the previous release and the November 2026 release, the brands adding the most outlets were The Works (+7) and Waterstones (+4).
Which hobbies & interests brands have the most UK outlets?
The Works (505), Waterstones (301) and Hobbycraft (106), as at the November 2026 release.