I am not a digital consultancy that happens to be Turkish. I am an operator who has opened Turkish food and drink sites in London and knows what the process actually costs in time, money and mistakes.
Born in Germany, native Turkish speaker, I have lived and worked in London for twenty-four years. I have run the London side of a Turkish brand’s expansion, and I have built and run my own venues here.
Named individuals and brands denote roles held during a 25-year career. They do not imply endorsement of Epicurean Digital Consultants Ltd.
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Last checked: 27 August 2026
Most guides say a UK coffee shop costs £20,000 to £100,000. That figure is for a kiosk, or for a shop somebody has already built and fitted. It does not include paying the person who is leaving, which in London is usually the biggest single cheque you write. That is why the numbers below are higher.
Secondary citation — a site citing the British Business Bank, not the British Business Bank directly — https://www.livingstonesaccountants.co.uk/blog/how-much-does-it-cost-to-open-a-coffee-shop-in-the-uk/
The landlord does not charge the same for every metre. The first six metres back from the window are charged at full price, the next six at half, the six after that at a quarter.
The effect is that shape matters more than size. A wide shop with a big window costs far more than a long narrow one of the same floor area, because more of it sits in the expensive strip at the front. When an agent quotes you a price per square foot, that is the front-six-metres price (the trade calls it Zone A). Multiplying it by your total floor area gives a number that is not real, and it is always too high.
For scale: New Bond Street prime space reached £2,750 per square foot per year, making it the most expensive retail street in the world as of November 2025. The best Oxford Street frontage sits around £675, the prime England and Wales average around £450, and broader London secondary space around £55 to £86.
New Bond Street, Cushman & Wakefield, November 2025 — https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/belgium/news/2025/11/londons-new-bond-street-most-expensive-retail-destination-in-the-world
Oxford Street, prime average and London secondary figures — published by a landlord analysing its own market, not an independent index — https://langhamestate.com/industry-community/retail-rental-prices-in-central-london/
Zoning method — https://shepcom.com/what-is-zone-a-in-commercial-property/
Most London shops already have somebody trading in them, and to take the lease over you pay that person — for the fittings, for the kitchen, and sometimes simply for the right to be there.
It is negotiable, it is published nowhere official, and it is where deals are won and lost. It is also the line that guides written for other cities leave out entirely, which is why their totals look so much lower than mine.
Café asking prices I sampled on 27 August 2026 across two London leasehold listing sites ran from £80,000 to £125,000. Restaurant listings seen the same day sat above that range; restaurant figures are given separately in the cards. Asking prices are not achieved prices. What a business actually sells for is private, usually lower, and depends entirely on how long the seller has been waiting. Listing pages also change constantly, so the individual adverts behind these figures will not still be there when you look.
London leasehold listings, sampled 27 August 2026 — https://uk.businessesforsale.com/uk/agents/restaurant-property-sellers-2
London café listings, sampled 27 August 2026 — https://www.daltonsbusiness.com/cafes-for-sale-in-london/page/5/
A café or restaurant sits in Use Class E and generally does not need a planning application; a hot food takeaway sits outside the classes altogether (the term is Sui Generis) and generally does.
If your concept sells hot food to take away, that single distinction can cost you months. It is worth settling before you sign anything, because a change into a takeaway use needs a full application decided by the local council, with no guarantee attached to it. This is descriptive information about how the classes work, not advice about any particular site — the classification of a specific unit is a question for the local authority.
Use classes and sui generis uses, gov.uk planning guidance — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/when-is-permission-required
Between roughly £330,000 and £585,000 for an ordinary London high street unit of about 80 square metres, before you sell a single cup.
That is a wide range because two of the lines inside it are wide. Below is where every pound of it goes.
Coffee shop, ordinary London high street
About 80 m². Leasehold, taking over from an existing tenant.
† Extrapolated from the source plus the unit size, rather than stated in that form by the source itself. If the unit was already a café and the kitchen and extraction work, the fit-out figure falls by a large margin — it is the single line most worth checking before you offer.
This is the arithmetic sum of the itemised lines above and nothing more. It is not a quotation, not a budget and not a prediction. Ranges published by trade sources vary substantially by area, by the condition of the building and by timing. Your own figure will differ, and the two widest lines — premium and fit-out — are the ones that will move it most.
Espresso machine — https://plcoffeeshopconsulting.co.uk/insights/commercial-coffee-machine-guide-uk
Insurance — note this source is dated 2025, not 2026 — https://wsinsurance.co.uk/how-much-does-business-insurance-cost-in-2025/
Solicitor, £1,000–£2,500 plus VAT — https://toomeylegal.co.uk/how-much-does-a-commercial-lease-really-cost/
Deposit, commonly six to twelve months of rent — https://clarkslegal.com/insights/articles/rent-deposits-a-brief-overview/
Fit-out per square metre, London — https://www.accantointeriors.com/how-much-does-a-restaurant-fit-out-cost-in-london-in-2026/
Fit-out per square metre, general hospitality (this source states no geographic scope) — https://jca-ltd.co.uk/budgeting-for-hospitality-construction-costing-how-much-will-my-restaurant-bar-cafe-cost/
Between roughly £250,000 and £577,000 for about 150 square metres, and the spread depends almost entirely on what the kitchen needs.
A restaurant carries a smaller fit-out line than a coffee shop of the same ambition only when the kitchen is already there. When it is not, this is the more expensive project by a distance.
Restaurant, ordinary London high street
About 150 m². Leasehold, taking over from an existing tenant.
† Extrapolated from the source plus the unit size, rather than stated in that form by the source itself. The biggest single swing is whether extraction already exists. If it does not, that one item can add six figures and months to the programme.
This is the arithmetic sum of the itemised lines above and nothing more. It is not a quotation, not a budget and not a prediction. Ranges published by trade sources vary substantially by area, by the condition of the building and by timing. It also excludes running costs before opening, which the coffee shop card lists separately.
Kitchen fit-out and equipment — https://www.mybuilder.com/kitchen-fitting/price-guides/commercial-kitchen-cost
Kitchen electrical installation — https://www.elec-mate.com/guides/restaurant-kitchen-electrical-cost
Staff typically take 25 to 30 per cent of sales in a coffee shop and 28 to 36 per cent in a full-service restaurant, with food at 28 to 35 per cent, and roughly £6,500 a month in fixed costs before you have sold anything.
Those three lines decide whether a site works. A rent you can afford on opening day becomes unaffordable the moment staff costs drift, because the rent does not move and the wage bill does.
Coffee shop start-up and running costs — https://bellwethercoffee.com/blog/coffee-shop-business-plan-startup-costs-uk
Restaurant labour cost percentage — https://restaurantinventorytools.com/restaurant-labor-cost-percentage/
Restaurant food cost percentage — https://vantainsights.com/insights/restaurant-food-cost-percentage
Yes, and it is not charged on the annual rent but on the rent added up across the whole lease, discounted to what that stream is worth today (the formal term is net present value).
Nothing is due below £150,000 of that total. Above it, the rate is 1 per cent. There is a 2 per cent band, but it starts above £5m and will not apply to a first site. The practical consequence is that a longer lease costs more to sign, which is worth knowing before you agree a term.
Stamp Duty Land Tax on leasehold purchases, gov.uk — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/stamp-duty-land-tax-leasehold-purchases
Possibly nothing at all: there is 100 per cent relief below a rateable value of £12,000, tapering to zero at £15,000, and above that the ordinary multipliers apply.
The rateable value is not your rent. It is the Valuation Office’s own assessment of the property, and the values effective from 1 April 2026 are based on open market rents as at 1 April 2024. So the figure you are rated on reflects a market two years before you trade in it, which can cut either way.
Small business rate relief, gov.uk — https://www.gov.uk/business-rates-relief/small-business-rate-relief
Revaluation and the valuation date, gov.uk — https://www.gov.uk/introduction-to-business-rates/revaluation
Negotiate your way out on the same day you negotiate your way in. When you sign, everyone is optimistic and the landlord wants the deal done. That is the only moment you have any leverage. Two years later, when it is not working, you have none.
A landlord will usually ask a new company with no UK trading history to have its director guarantee the lease personally. Once that is signed, the company being limited protects nothing: a director can be personally liable, including for a six-figure repair bill at the end of the term.
Personal guarantees on a commercial lease — https://www.higgsllp.co.uk/articles/should-you-personally-guarantee-a-commercial-lease
Directors and commercial rent arrears — https://rfblegal.co.uk/insights/personal-guarantees-and-commercial-rent-arrears-are-directors-at-risk/
At the end of the lease the landlord can require the property to be restored (the formal term is dilapidations). Trade estimates run £8 to £45 per square foot, which on a 900 square foot café is roughly £7,000 to £40,000 — payable at exactly the moment you are already losing money.
Per-square-foot range published by a trade contractor, not an independent body — https://renovauk.com/blog/how-much-should-i-budget-for-dilapidations-at-the-end-of-my-lease.html
There are three, and you need one of them written in. A break clause, if you negotiate it — the conditions are strict and missing one can void it. Assignment, which needs the landlord’s consent. Surrender, which needs the landlord’s agreement and usually a payment. With none of these, the rent is owed to the end of the term whether you are trading or not.
Ending a commercial lease early, gov.uk — https://www.gov.uk/terminating-a-commercial-property-lease-early
A tenant’s guide to exiting a commercial lease — https://www.vwv.co.uk/insights/articles/tenants-guide-to-exiting-a-commercial-lease/
Ask whether the lease is “contracted out”. If it is, you have no automatic right to renew when the term ends. You build the business, and then you hand it back. This is the question most first-time tenants never think to ask.
Contracting out of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 — https://www.jonathanlea.net/blog/contracting-out-of-the-landlord-and-tenant-act-1954/
Everything in this section is descriptive information about how commercial leases work in England and Wales. It is not legal advice, and no part of it is specific to any site. Have a solicitor read any lease before you sign it.
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