Where variety discounter is growing in the UK
2,208 variety discounter outlets across 6 brands are in the h3hex Data Store in the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables Birmingham has the most, with 33, or 0.3 per 10,000 residents; the top 25 local areas together hold 522 (24% of outlets with a mapped local area). The largest like-for-like net gain since the previous release is in Stoke-on-Trent (+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 variety discounter outlets?
| # | Local area | Outlets | Brands present | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham | 33 | 4: Poundland, B&M, Home Bargains, The Range | 0.3 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 31 | 4: Home Bargains, B&M, Poundland, The Range | 0.6 |
| 3 | Leeds | 29 | 4: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range | 0.3 |
| 4 | County Durham | 27 | 5: B&M, Home Bargains, Boyes, Poundland, The Range | 0.5 |
| 5 | Glasgow City | 27 | 4: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range | - |
| 6 | Sheffield | 25 | 5: Home Bargains, Poundland, B&M, The Range, Boyes | 0.4 |
| 7 | Cornwall | 24 | 4: B&M, Poundland, Home Bargains, The Range | 0.4 |
| 8 | ONS area E06000065 | 24 | 5: B&M, Boyes, Poundland, Home Bargains, The Range | 0.4 |
| 9 | Kingston upon Hull, City of | 23 | 5: B&M, Home Bargains, Boyes, Poundland, The Range | 0.8 |
| 10 | Bradford | 21 | 5: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range, Boyes | 0.4 |
| 11 | Belfast | 20 | 4: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range | - |
| 12 | Wakefield | 20 | 4: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range | 0.5 |
| 13 | Doncaster | 19 | 5: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, Boyes, The Range | 0.6 |
| 14 | North Lanarkshire | 19 | 4: Home Bargains, B&M, Poundland, The Range | - |
| 15 | Northumberland | 19 | 5: B&M, Home Bargains, Boyes, Poundland, The Range | 0.6 |
| 16 | Manchester | 18 | 4: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range | 0.3 |
| 17 | Sefton | 17 | 4: Home Bargains, B&M, Poundland, The Range | 0.6 |
| 18 | Cardiff | 16 | 4: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range | 0.4 |
| 19 | Fife | 16 | 3: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland | - |
| 20 | North Northamptonshire | 16 | 5: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, Boyes, The Range | 0.4 |
| 21 | ONS area E06000063 | 16 | 4: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range | 0.6 |
| 22 | Sunderland | 16 | 4: B&M, Poundland, Home Bargains, The Range | 0.6 |
| 23 | Wirral | 16 | 5: Home Bargains, B&M, Poundland, The Range, Boyes | 0.5 |
| 24 | ONS area E06000066 | 15 | 4: B&M, The Range, Home Bargains, Poundland | 0.3 |
| 25 | South Lanarkshire | 15 | 4: B&M, Home Bargains, Poundland, The Range | - |
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 variety discounter outlets?
| # | Local area | Net change | Previous release | This release | All outlets now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stoke-on-Trent | +1 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| 2 | Buckinghamshire | +1 | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| 3 | Warrington | +1 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| 4 | Enfield | +1 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| 5 | Leeds | 0 | 29 | 29 | 29 |
| 6 | Glasgow City | 0 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
| 7 | Sheffield | 0 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| 8 | ONS area E06000065 | 0 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| 9 | Kingston upon Hull, City of | 0 | 23 | 23 | 23 |
| 10 | Wakefield | 0 | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| 11 | Northumberland | 0 | 19 | 19 | 19 |
| 12 | Doncaster | 0 | 19 | 19 | 19 |
| 13 | North Lanarkshire | 0 | 19 | 19 | 19 |
| 14 | Manchester | 0 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| 15 | Sefton | 0 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
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 Variety discounter 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. 6 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 variety discounter store lists brand by brand or as a sector bundle.
How many variety discounter outlets are there in the UK?
h3hex tracks 2,208 branded variety discounter outlets from 6 brands in the UK as at the November 2026 release. In the local-area tables, Birmingham has the most, with 33.
Which variety discounter brands are growing?
Between the previous release and the November 2026 release, the brand adding the most outlets was The Range (+1).
Which variety discounter brands have the most UK outlets?
B&M (795), Home Bargains (563) and Poundland (492), as at the November 2026 release.