Where plumbers merchant is growing in the UK
362 plumbers merchant outlets across 2 brands are in the h3hex Data Store in the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables Cornwall has the most, with 9, or 0.2 per 10,000 residents; the top 25 local areas together hold 100 (28% of outlets with a mapped local area).
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 plumbers merchant outlets?
| # | Local area | Outlets | Brands present | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cornwall | 9 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.2 |
| 2 | Highland | 7 | 2: William Wilson, City Plumbing | - |
| 3 | ONS area E06000066 | 7 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 4 | Aberdeen City | 5 | 2: City Plumbing, William Wilson | - |
| 5 | City of Edinburgh | 5 | 2: City Plumbing, William Wilson | - |
| 6 | Glasgow City | 5 | 2: City Plumbing, William Wilson | - |
| 7 | North Lanarkshire | 5 | 2: City Plumbing, William Wilson | - |
| 8 | Dorset | 4 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 9 | Fife | 4 | 2: City Plumbing, William Wilson | - |
| 10 | Leeds | 4 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.0 |
| 11 | South Gloucestershire | 4 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 12 | Wiltshire | 4 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 13 | Birmingham | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.0 |
| 14 | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 15 | Bromley | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 16 | Cardiff | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 17 | Doncaster | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 18 | East Riding of Yorkshire | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 19 | ONS area E06000065 | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.0 |
| 20 | Southampton | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 21 | Sutton | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 22 | Swansea | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.1 |
| 23 | Waverley | 3 | 1: City Plumbing | 0.2 |
| 24 | Aberdeenshire | 2 | 1: William Wilson | - |
| 25 | Bath and North East Somerset | 2 | 1: City Plumbing | 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 plumbers merchant outlets?
| # | Local area | Net change | Previous release | This release | All outlets now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cornwall | 0 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 2 | ONS area E06000066 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
| 3 | Highland | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | Aberdeen City | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | City of Edinburgh | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | Glasgow City | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| 7 | North Lanarkshire | 0 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
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 Plumbers merchant 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. 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 plumbers merchant store lists brand by brand or as a sector bundle.
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- DIY retailing544 outlets · 2 brands
- Bathroom retail221 outlets · 2 brands
How many plumbers merchant outlets are there in the UK?
h3hex tracks 362 branded plumbers merchant outlets from 2 brands in the UK as at the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables, Cornwall has the most, with 9.
Which plumbers merchant brands are growing?
No plumbers merchant brand present in both releases added outlets between the previous release and the November 2026 release.
Which plumbers merchant brands have the most UK outlets?
City Plumbing (340) and William Wilson (22), as at the November 2026 release.