Commercial Units for Sale in Leicester
172 properties found within 15 miles
About Commercial Units in Leicester
Leicester is the largest city in the East Midlands and one of the most affordable commercial property markets of its size in England. The city centre office stock runs from period buildings on New Walk and around the Cultural Quarter to the newer blocks at Colton Square and Great Central Street, while the out-of-town market at Grove Park and Meridian Business Park beside M1 Junction 21 takes most of the larger corporate lettings. Industrial demand is strong and supply thin: Leicester sits at the northern end of the Golden Triangle for logistics, so anything modern near the motorway lets quickly. The city has a population of about 388,000, with around 559,000 in the wider built-up area.
The economy has moved a long way from the hosiery and footwear trade that made Leicester one of the richest cities in Europe in the 1930s, when firms such as Corah and Wolsey employed thousands. Clothing manufacturing survives at the quality end, with Next, Boden and Pantherella still sourcing from the city, but the bigger employers today are food manufacturing, precision engineering, packaging and logistics, alongside a large public sector led by University Hospitals of Leicester, which employs around 18,000 people. Space Park Leicester, opened in 2022 beside the National Space Centre, has added a cluster of space and satellite businesses that includes Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Northrop Grumman.
Connectivity is a genuine selling point. East Midlands Railway runs Leicester to London St Pancras in as little as 1 hour 3 minutes, with an average journey of about 1 hour 21 and over 100 trains a day, which makes the city a practical base for firms that need to be in London regularly. M1 Junction 21 is where the M69 from Coventry meets the M1, with the A5460 running straight into the city, and Junction 21A on the A46 serves the north-west side of the city at Glenfield. East Midlands Airport is about 20 miles north, with a Skylink bus every 20 minutes during the day, and Birmingham Airport is roughly 37 miles away.
The market is two-tier. In the city centre, Grade A office rents have held at around £20 per sq ft, while weaker demand for older Grade B space has kept rents at about £10, and a steady flow of older blocks is going to residential conversion. Out of town, Grove Park remains the prime office park with headline rents peaking at £18 per sq ft, and Meridian tops out at around £14 to £14.50. Industrial rents have risen sharply: agent research reports Grade A industrial rents in Leicester up 45 per cent over five years, and Grade B up 38 per cent. New supply is coming through the Leicester Waterside enterprise zone, about 66.5 hectares split between Waterside and Space City on the north-west edge of the centre, and through pipeline industrial schemes at Enderby Logistics Hub, Broadnook and a second phase of Watermead Business Park.
Business character
Leicester is a making and moving city rather than a financial centre. Food is the biggest private sector story: the Walkers factory at Beaumont Leys is the largest crisp plant in the world, producing over 11 million bags a day, and employs about 1,120 people, Pukka Pies is based at Syston and Everards brews in the city and owns over 170 pubs across Leicestershire. Retail head offices are a Leicester speciality too: Next is headquartered at Enderby on the south-west edge of the city and Dunelm runs its store support centre from Watermead Business Park at Syston. Professional and financial services are smaller but real, with Mattioli Woods headquartered on New Walk with over 900 staff and Hastings Direct running a call centre in the city. Logistics occupiers cluster around Junction 21 and 21A, where Optimus Point at Glenfield has attracted DPD, Geodis, Sarstedt and Mattel, and Magna Park at Lutterworth, Europe's largest dedicated logistics park with over 13 million sq ft, is 15 miles down the M1. The two universities, the University of Leicester and De Montfort University, and Leicester City Council are among the largest employers in the centre, and the city's South Asian business community along Belgrave Road supports one of the strongest independent retail and food trades in the country. Other significant employers include University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, Walkers / PepsiCo (Beaumont Leys) and Everards Brewery.
Transport & connectivity
- Motorway: M1 (Junction M1 J21, 4 miles)
- Nearest rail: Leicester (63 min to London)
- Airport: East Midlands (20 miles)
- Key A-roads: A6, A46, A47, A50, A426, A563 (Outer Ring Road), A5460, A607
Market context
Offices are cheaper in Leicester than in Nottingham or Birmingham, and the choice is wide. Grade A space in the centre lets at around £20 per sq ft, Grade B at about £10, and the best out-of-town space at Grove Park peaks at £18, while one 2026 market summary puts the prime city centre headline at £22 to £25. Industrial is where the pressure is. Most of the county's stock is small and mid-box space up to 100,000 sq ft, supply of good-quality units is very low, and the agents expect rents to keep drifting upwards. New-build units at Genesis Park in Wigston have been quoting £12.95 per sq ft and the council's Blackbird Industrial Park near the centre £12 to £15, with modern units near Junction 21 reported at £8.50 to £11 and older 1990s stock at Braunstone Frith and Optimus Point at £7 to £9. Retail is polarised: Zone A rents run from about £75 on the best High Street pitches to £100 to £140 inside Highcross according to 2026 broker reports, while secondary streets such as Granby Street let for far less, and the suburban parades of Clarendon Park, Queens Road and Belgrave Road trade on independent demand.
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Commercial Property in Leicester
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