Where motor retail is growing in the UK
352 motor retail branded outlets across 1 brand are tracked in the UK in the November 2026 release. Cornwall has the most, with 5, or 0.1 per 10,000 residents; the top 25 local areas together hold 76 (22% of outlets with a mapped local area). The largest like-for-like net gain since the previous release is in Cornwall (+5).
Which local areas have the most motor retail outlets?
| # | Local area | Outlets | Brands present | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cornwall | 5 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 2 | ONS area E06000066 | 5 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 3 | Leeds | 4 | 1: Halfords | 0.0 |
| 4 | ONS area E06000065 | 4 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 5 | South Lanarkshire | 4 | 1: Halfords | - |
| 6 | Birmingham | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.0 |
| 7 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 8 | Bristol, City of | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 9 | Central Bedfordshire | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 10 | Cheshire East | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 11 | Croydon | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 12 | Dorset | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 13 | North Northamptonshire | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 14 | ONS area E06000064 | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 15 | Sheffield | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 16 | Stoke-on-Trent | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 17 | West Northamptonshire | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 18 | West Suffolk | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.2 |
| 19 | Wiltshire | 3 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 20 | Aberdeen City | 2 | 1: Halfords | - |
| 21 | Aberdeenshire | 2 | 1: Halfords | - |
| 22 | Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 2 | 1: Halfords | - |
| 23 | Arun | 2 | 1: Halfords | 0.1 |
| 24 | Barnet | 2 | 1: Halfords | 0.0 |
| 25 | Belfast | 2 | 1: Halfords | - |
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 motor retail outlets?
| # | Local area | Net change | Previous release | This release | All outlets now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cornwall | +5 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| 2 | ONS area E06000066 | +2 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
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 Motor retail sector of the h3hex data store, November 2026 release (scrape window 30 Oct - 3 Nov 2026), page built 2026-11-06. Closed, pre-opening and head-office records are left out. 0 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 motor retail store lists brand by brand or as a sector bundle.