Buying a convenience store or off licence
Convenience stores and off-licences turn over faster than almost any other category on this marketplace. There are 50,486 of them trading across mainland Britain, per the Association of Convenience Stores' 2025 Local Shop Report. Check the premises licence early. It needs a formal transfer application before you can sell alcohol under it, and that step trips up more buyers than the accounts do. Extras change the economics too. Several listings bundle in a National Lottery terminal, PayPoint or a parcel drop-off alongside the till. Our guide to buying an off licence covers licence transfers in more depth. Search the marketplace and four are listed right now, from single-till corner shops to a £900,000-turnover site in east London.
Buying a B&B or guest house
England has 12,401 bed and breakfast and guest house establishments, according to VisitEngland's 2026 Accommodation Stock Audit, and the ones for sale here range from four to seven bedrooms. Occupancy is the number that actually matters, not the asking price. A B&B running at 40% through the year and 90% in August is a different business to one that holds steady, even at identical turnover. Online booking commissions eat into margin, so ask what share of guests book direct. Owner accommodation is usually part of the sale too, sometimes separate, sometimes built into the letting rooms. Search current listings and four B&Bs and guest houses are listed at the moment, mostly across Scotland and the north of England.
Buying a butcher
Butchers on the marketplace split roughly into two shapes: a trade counter serving walk-in customers, and a wholesale operation supplying restaurants and other shops. Ask which one you're actually buying. The equipment tells you a lot. Chillers, a walk-in cold room and a cutting and mincing setup are expensive to replace, so get their age and service history before you get attached to the price. Supplier relationships carry real value here and rarely show up on a balance sheet. A good abattoir or wholesaler account can take months to rebuild from nothing. Search butchers for sale and three are listed right now, from a London meat business to a large Dudley site with its own supermarket counter.
Buying a beauty or aesthetics business
This category covers more ground than the name suggests. Medispas, aesthetics clinics offering injectables, skincare franchises and treatment studios all list under beauty, and each carries different risk. A clinic performing Botox or fillers needs practitioners with the right medical qualifications and insurance, and that does not automatically transfer with the sale. A franchise brings ongoing fees and territory rules to weigh against the accounts. Client rebooking rate matters more than footfall here, since most of the revenue is repeat business rather than passing trade. Search live listings and three beauty and aesthetics businesses are listed currently, including a multi-award-winning Central London aesthetics clinic and a two-site South London skincare franchise turning over £1.5M.
Buying a garage or MOT centre
Great Britain approved 23,316 MOT testing stations across the 2024 to 2025 financial year, per DVSA figures, and that approval is usually worth more than the ramps and tools combined. It does not transfer automatically. Whoever buys the site has to hold their own authorisation to keep testing under the same roof. Which test classes is the site approved for, and how old are the ramps and diagnostic equipment? Our guide to buying an MOT garage covers authorisation transfers and equipment checks in more depth. Search garages and MOT centres and two are listed right now, both with MOT bays already fitted and trading.
Buying a hotel or inn
England has 16,377 hotel establishments, according to VisitEngland's 2026 Accommodation Stock Audit, and the ones that reach this marketplace tend to come with a bar or restaurant attached rather than rooms alone. That combination changes what you're underwriting. Room revenue is seasonal and rate-driven. Food and drink revenue depends on passing trade and a kitchen team that can hold together through a change of ownership. Ask for the split between the two before valuing the business on either alone. Staffing runs deeper than most sectors here, covering housekeeping, front of house and kitchen under one payroll. Search hotels with an attached pub and you'll find one listed right now, an 18-bedroom site in Altrincham, Manchester.
Buying a cattery
A cattery is a licensed activity, not just a piece of land with pens on it. Every site needs an animal boarding licence from the local council, covering pen size, ventilation and how cats from different households are kept apart, and it is inspected and renewed, not simply handed over at completion. Trade is seasonal. Expect summer and school-holiday weeks booked out months ahead and a quiet stretch either side of them, so ask for month-by-month occupancy rather than an annual average. Most catteries on the market today are owner-operated, so the sale usually includes a house or live-in accommodation alongside the pens. Search catteries for sale and two are listed right now, one in London with 17 air-conditioned pens.
Buying a cleaning business
The cleaning, hygiene and waste sector counted 78,915 businesses in 2025, the British Cleaning Council's latest tally, in an industry it valued at almost £72bn back in 2023. What you're really buying is the contract book, so read it before you read the accounts. Notice periods, renewal dates and how much revenue sits with a single client all decide what happens the day you take over. TUPE moves the cleaning staff across with the contracts. Our guide to buying a cleaning business covers contract due diligence in more depth. Search contract cleaning businesses and two are listed currently, one a home-run contract operation, the other built around holiday-home turnarounds in West Wales.