Where specialist food & drink is growing in the UK
205 specialist food & drink outlets across 2 brands are in the h3hex Data Store in the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables Westminster has the most, with 11, or 0.5 per 10,000 residents; the top 25 local areas together hold 85 (42% 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 specialist food & drink outlets?
| # | Local area | Outlets | Brands present | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westminster | 11 | 2: Whittard of Chelsea, Hotel Chocolat | 0.5 |
| 2 | Camden | 5 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.2 |
| 3 | Glasgow City | 5 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | - |
| 4 | Leeds | 5 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 5 | Belfast | 4 | 1: Hotel Chocolat | - |
| 6 | Birmingham | 4 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.0 |
| 7 | City of Edinburgh | 4 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | - |
| 8 | City of London | 4 | 1: Hotel Chocolat | 2.6 |
| 9 | Manchester | 4 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 10 | York | 4 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.2 |
| 11 | Cheshire West and Chester | 3 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 12 | Hammersmith and Fulham | 3 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.2 |
| 13 | Newcastle upon Tyne | 3 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 14 | ONS area E06000065 | 3 | 1: Hotel Chocolat | 0.0 |
| 15 | Sheffield | 3 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 16 | Bath and North East Somerset | 2 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 17 | Bridgend | 2 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 18 | Brighton and Hove | 2 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 19 | Bromley | 2 | 1: Hotel Chocolat | 0.1 |
| 20 | Cambridge | 2 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 21 | County Durham | 2 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.0 |
| 22 | Dartford | 2 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.2 |
| 23 | East Riding of Yorkshire | 2 | 1: Hotel Chocolat | 0.1 |
| 24 | Exeter | 2 | 2: Hotel Chocolat, Whittard of Chelsea | 0.1 |
| 25 | Gateshead | 2 | 1: Hotel Chocolat | 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 specialist food & drink outlets?
| # | Local area | Net change | Previous release | This release | All outlets now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Westminster | 0 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| 2 | Leeds | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | Camden | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 4 | Glasgow City | 0 | 5 | 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 Specialist Food & Drink 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. 3 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 specialist food & drink store lists brand by brand or as a sector bundle.
How many specialist food & drink outlets are there in the UK?
h3hex tracks 205 branded specialist food & drink outlets from 2 brands in the UK as at the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables, Westminster has the most, with 11.
Which specialist food & drink brands are growing?
No specialist food & drink brand present in both releases added outlets between the previous release and the November 2026 release.
Which specialist food & drink brands have the most UK outlets?
Hotel Chocolat (163) and Whittard of Chelsea (42), as at the November 2026 release.