Card terminals and tills in the West Midlands: the businesses taking on premises this week
Card terminals and tills get chosen during the fit-out, weeks before the doors open. Most providers hear about a new café the day it starts trading, which is too late.
Last week in the West Midlands
In the daily files from 5 to 11 November 2026, businesses in the West Midlands that took on premises, changed hands or were about to, graded A or B for a card terminal desk: 13. 12 of them were opening or about to, 1 had just moved in or were under a new owner, and 9 came with a landline to ring. Across Great Britain the same week: 68. 54% of the region's rows could not have been flagged by a service working from Companies House alone.
Counted from the daily files dated 5 to 11 November 2026, as read on 11 November 2026. Each event is counted once, on the first file it reached. The same count for every region, in the same words.
Why timing matters
A merchant account belongs to a business, not a building. So when a café, pub or shop changes hands, the new owner needs its own agreement, whatever was on the counter before. Food businesses have to register with their council before they open, and pubs and bars have to advertise a licence application, so a lot of this is public early if you know where to look.
What we tell you
The moments that matter for you:
| Coming | A business is about to open: a licence applied for, a unit being fitted out, a new company set up to trade from the address. |
| Just moved in | A business has started at premises that had nobody in them: a new ratepayer, a new food business, a newly registered care home, nursery, surgery or garage. |
| Changed hands | A new operator at premises that were already trading: a pub, shop or care home under new ownership, often keeping the old name on the door. |
How to use it
Filter to the kinds of business you serve (takeaways, restaurants, pubs, shops) and ring or visit the ones about to open first.
The councils in the West Midlands
The file is cut to the region, or to any of these councils if you'd rather: Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, Coventry, Dudley, East Staffordshire, Herefordshire, County of, Lichfield, Malvern Hills, Newcastle-under-Lyme, North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Redditch, Rugby, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands, Stoke-on-Trent, Stratford-on-Avon, Tamworth, Telford and Wrekin, Walsall, Warwick, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Wychavon, Wyre Forest. Each link is the council's own page of new companies, free, every Monday.
A free fortnight of the file for the West Midlands
The first file comes within one working day, cut to the West Midlands, then every weekday for two weeks. No card, nothing to cancel. After that it's £250 a month for the region, monthly, and you can stop at any month's end.
One row a week, free
Not ready for a fortnight of files? Have one of the week's rows for your region each Friday, the one we'd ring first, free, for as long as you like. The full file has every row, every weekday.
Built for selling within the rules: businesses not people, every row with its source and date, and nothing your team can't explain to someone who asks. How it's done.
Questions
Is it only food and drink?
No, but that's where most of the early signals are, because of the food register and the licensing rules. Shops, salons and garages come through too.
How is this different from buying a list?
A list is a snapshot of businesses that exist. This is what changed yesterday: who moved in, who took over, who left. A bought list can't tell you any of that, and it's out of date the day it arrives.
How do you find them?
From public registers, read every day and kept, so we can see when something changes at an address. The sources are on the sources page. How we put them together is ours, and we don't publish it.
Is there personal data in it?
Almost none. The file is about businesses and premises: no director names, no home addresses. Where a business publishes only a named address on its own website, the daily file carries it in a marked column, as the privacy notice says; a sample never does. Where a phone number or a mailbox is public, we say where it came from.
Can we email or ring them?
Limited companies and LLPs can be emailed without prior consent under PECR, if you say who you are and give a way to opt out. Phone numbers are yours to screen against the TPS and CTPS before you ring.
Do we have to ring them?
No. Each daily file can come with the emails already written, one for each business with a mailbox of its own, in your words, for you to send from your own mailbox. We draft the wording from your website, you change anything you like, and it's part of the price.
What does it cost?
£250 a month for a region, or £1,000 a month for the whole of Great Britain, monthly, and you can stop at any month's end. The first two weeks are free, so your team can try it on real rows before paying anything.
Is the file exclusive?
Not the whole file, but you can have a head start. First look sends your trade's new rows for your region to you each morning, a working day before anyone else in your trade gets them, for one firm per trade and region: £375 a month for a region, or £1,500 a month for Great Britain, on the same terms.
Card terminals and tills in other regions: the East Midlands · the East of England · London · the North East · the North West · Scotland · the South East · the South West · Wales · Yorkshire and the Humber