02.11.2026

UK office rental costs revealed

The UK Office Rental Report 2026 from FreeOfficeFinder compared average monthly desk prices in private serviced offices across Britain.

Cambridge came out as the most expensive location at £588 per desk a month, compared with £483 across London as a whole. Even Shoreditch (£581) and Canary Wharf (£568) have lower average prices, although central London remains more expensive at £634.

At the other end of the ranking, Basingstoke averages just £190 per desk, highlighting the substantial differences in office costs between locations.

Nearly £24,000 a year separates the most and least expensive locations

For a business needing five desks, average prices would mean annual costs of approximately £35,280 in Cambridge compared with £11,400 in Basingstoke.

That's an illustrative difference of £23,880 a year for the same number of desks.

Big price differences within and around London

Central London averages £634 per desk a month, compared with £332 across the study's outer London and nearby towns group. For five desks, that represents an illustrative annual difference of £18,120.

Outside London, Reading averages £336 per desk a month, compared with £190 in Basingstoke.

The full UK office desk price ranking

The 19 selected towns and cities ranked by average monthly cost per desk in a private serviced office:

Cambridge: £588
London (as a whole): £483
Bristol: £372
Oxford: £362
Birmingham: £347
Brighton: £344
Leeds: £343
Reading: £336
St Albans: £328
Manchester: £326
Milton Keynes: £308
Edinburgh: £268
Aberdeen: £267
Liverpool: £262
Glasgow: £251
Slough: £218
Newcastle: £209
Cardiff: £199
Basingstoke: £190

Nick Riesel, Managing Director of FreeOfficeFinder, said: “Where you base your business, and even which part of the city, can make a difference of hundreds of pounds a month. It pays to compare before you sign.”

Posted by: FMJ 0 comment(s)