Shops to Let in Liverpool

Business character

Public services and health set the tone. Public administration, education and health together account for roughly 40 per cent of jobs in the city, with University Hospitals of Liverpool Group employing over 18,900 people, Liverpool City Council and the two universities, the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores, all among the largest employers. Around them the Knowledge Quarter has drawn the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the National Oceanography Centre and the Royal College of Physicians' northern headquarters at The Spine, and Sciontec's Central Tech and Hemisphere buildings give life science and technology firms laboratory and flexible workspace. Consumer businesses are a Liverpool speciality: Home Bargains, the TJ Morris chain with over 600 stores and £4 billion turnover, B&M with over 760 UK stores and The Very Group's online retail and credit business all run from the city, and Princes, the food manufacturer, bought the Royal Liver Building as its headquarters. Manufacturing is strongest to the south, where Jaguar Land Rover at Halewood and a pharmaceutical cluster at Speke including Elanco, MedImmune and Novartis sit close to the airport. Logistics and port-related trade fill Bootle, Kirkby and the dock road, and the Baltic Triangle houses the creative, digital and games studios that give the city its media reputation. Other significant employers include Peel Ports (Port of Liverpool), Everton FC (Hill Dickinson Stadium) and Liverpool FC.

Transport & connectivity

• Motorway: M62 (Junction M62 J4, 4 miles)
• Nearest rail: Liverpool Lime Street (133 min to London)
• Airport: Liverpool John Lennon (7.5 miles)
• Key A-roads: A57, A59, A562, A580 (East Lancashire Road), A5036 (dock road to the port), A5047, A5058 (Queens Drive)

Market context

Liverpool is a value market with a thin top end. The headline office rent stands at £29 to £29.50 per sq ft for the best refurbished space in the Commercial District, and because nothing new has been built there for some years, grade A availability is at a historic low and the best floors let quickly: take-up in the first half of 2025 was about 87,900 sq ft across 30 deals, led by Liverpool John Moores University taking 25,400 sq ft at City Square on Tithebarn Street. Most of the market sits well below that. Industrial rents are set by the big estates rather than the city centre. Portal asking rents for modern units at Speke and Bootle are around £9.50 to £11.50 per sq ft, with older space in Bootle and Walton from about £6. Retail is anchored by Liverpool ONE, 1.66 million sq ft of shops and leisure with around 170 stores, bought by Landsec from Grosvenor in December 2024, and by the independent trade on Bold Street.