Where mainstream convenience is growing in the UK
10,556 mainstream convenience outlets across 13 brands are in the h3hex Data Store in the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables Cornwall has the most, with 150, or 2.6 per 10,000 residents; the top 25 local areas together hold 2,165 (21% of outlets with a mapped local area). The largest like-for-like net gain since the previous release is in Bury (+4).
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 mainstream convenience outlets?
| # | Local area | Outlets | Brands present | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cornwall | 150 | 6: Spar, Co-op, Nisa, Morrisons Daily, Tesco Express | 2.6 |
| 2 | Birmingham | 128 | 8: Tesco Express, One Stop, Central Co-op, Nisa, Spar | 1.1 |
| 3 | Leeds | 118 | 8: Tesco Express, Co-op, One Stop, Nisa, Spar | 1.4 |
| 4 | ONS area E06000065 | 111 | 9: Co-op, Spar, Morrisons Daily, Nisa, Asda Express | 1.7 |
| 5 | ONS area E06000066 | 105 | 8: Co-op, One Stop, Spar, Tesco Express, Morrisons Daily | 1.8 |
| 6 | County Durham | 100 | 8: Spar, Co-op, Morrisons Daily, One Stop, Tesco Express | 1.9 |
| 7 | Highland | 98 | 7: Co-op, Spar, Scotmid, Morrisons Daily, Nisa | - |
| 8 | Fife | 94 | 8: Co-op, Spar, Morrisons Daily, Nisa, Scotmid | - |
| 9 | Wiltshire | 94 | 7: Co-op, Tesco Express, One Stop, Spar, Asda Express | 1.8 |
| 10 | Dorset | 92 | 7: Spar, Co-op, Tesco Express, One Stop, Nisa | 2.4 |
| 11 | Manchester | 83 | 7: Tesco Express, Co-op, Spar, Nisa, Morrisons Daily | 1.4 |
| 12 | City of Edinburgh | 79 | 6: Scotmid, Tesco Express, Co-op, Spar, Morrisons Daily | - |
| 13 | Sheffield | 78 | 8: Co-op, Tesco Express, Spar, One Stop, Nisa | 1.3 |
| 14 | Buckinghamshire | 75 | 7: Tesco Express, Co-op, Nisa, Asda Express, One Stop | 1.3 |
| 15 | Cheshire East | 74 | 8: Co-op, Morrisons Daily, Tesco Express, Asda Express, One Stop | 1.8 |
| 16 | Cheshire West and Chester | 74 | 7: Co-op, Spar, Morrisons Daily, Tesco Express, Asda Express | 2.0 |
| 17 | Glasgow City | 74 | 7: Tesco Express, Co-op, Nisa, Asda Express, Morrisons Daily | - |
| 18 | Cardiff | 73 | 7: Tesco Express, Co-op, Spar, One Stop, Asda Express | 1.9 |
| 19 | Bristol, City of | 69 | 7: Tesco Express, Co-op, Morrisons Daily, Nisa, Asda Express | 1.4 |
| 20 | ONS area E06000063 | 69 | 8: Spar, Co-op, Morrisons Daily, One Stop, Asda Express | 2.5 |
| 21 | South Lanarkshire | 68 | 8: Spar, Scotmid, Co-op, Morrisons Daily, Asda Express | - |
| 22 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 67 | 8: Tesco Express, Co-op, Nisa, Asda Express, One Stop | 1.6 |
| 23 | Liverpool | 66 | 7: Tesco Express, Spar, One Stop, Co-op, Nisa | 1.3 |
| 24 | ONS area E06000064 | 64 | 8: Spar, Co-op, Tesco Express, Nisa, One Stop | 2.8 |
| 25 | North Northamptonshire | 62 | 8: Central Co-op, Tesco Express, One Stop, Co-op, Asda Express | 1.7 |
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 mainstream convenience outlets?
| # | Local area | Net change | Previous release | This release | All outlets now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bury | +4 | 25 | 29 | 29 |
| 2 | Rochdale | +3 | 31 | 34 | 34 |
| 3 | Falkirk | +3 | 31 | 34 | 34 |
| 4 | High Peak | +3 | 14 | 17 | 17 |
| 5 | County Durham | +2 | 98 | 100 | 100 |
| 6 | City of Edinburgh | +2 | 77 | 79 | 79 |
| 7 | Liverpool | +2 | 64 | 66 | 66 |
| 8 | West Northamptonshire | +2 | 55 | 57 | 57 |
| 9 | Stockport | +2 | 50 | 52 | 52 |
| 10 | Hillingdon | +2 | 30 | 32 | 32 |
| 11 | St. Helens | +2 | 29 | 31 | 31 |
| 12 | Flintshire | +2 | 28 | 30 | 30 |
| 13 | Tandridge | +2 | 13 | 15 | 15 |
| 14 | Cotswold | +2 | 11 | 13 | 13 |
| 15 | Cheshire East | +1 | 73 | 74 | 74 |
Net change in outlets for brands present in both releases, for local areas with at least 5 outlets in the sector. No brand in this sector is new to this release.
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 Mainstream convenience 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. 30 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 mainstream convenience store lists brand by brand or as a sector bundle.
More convenience sectors
- All Convenience21,091 outlets · 22 brands
- Value convenience8,984 outlets · 4 brands
- Discount convenience972 outlets · 3 brands
How many mainstream convenience outlets are there in the UK?
h3hex tracks 10,556 branded mainstream convenience outlets from 13 brands in the UK as at the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables, Cornwall has the most, with 150.
Which mainstream convenience brands are growing?
Between the previous release and the November 2026 release, the brands adding the most outlets were Nisa (+15), Tesco Express (+15) and Co-op (+7).
Which mainstream convenience brands have the most UK outlets?
Co-op (2,389), Tesco Express (2,165) and Spar (1,714), as at the November 2026 release.