Find the kitchens before they're fitted
A food business registers with its council at least 28 days before it opens, and the cooking line, extraction and refrigeration are specified in the fit-out weeks before that. We see the registration, the licence application and the change of owner.
Why timing matters
Food businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have to register with their council at least 28 days before they start trading, and a pub or bar's licence application is on its council's register weeks before it opens, so most kitchen and bar fit-outs are public before the first service. A change of owner at a pub, café or restaurant shows on the same registers, and a new owner usually changes the menu and what's in the kitchen. Work on a catering gas appliance has to be done by a Gas Safe registered engineer under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, a kitchen has to be ventilated under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, and the inspector who sets the hygiene rating scores the physical condition of the premises, its ventilation and facilities included. We read the registers every day, grade each row for a catering equipment desk and tag it with the job it points to.
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
Ring the ones about to open first, then the ones that changed hands. The job column says what you'd offer before you ring, the reason column says why now, and the food businesses just rated 0 to 2 for hygiene are in the file for a repair or a replacement.
Coverage
The national registers cover every council in Great Britain. On top of those, 35 councils publish a business rates list we can use and 10 a licensing register (as of 25 September 2026), and we add councils as they give permission. Northern Ireland isn't in the file yet. Where the data comes from.
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.
Had your free fortnight? Subscribe here and the files carry on: a region for £250 a month, and you can stop at any month's end. You choose the region and what you sell at the checkout.
Questions
Is it only restaurants and takeaways?
They come first, because of the food register. Pubs and bars come through the licensing registers, care homes and nurseries through the care regulators, new schools through the Department for Education, and food shops with chilled stock through the food register too. Every other business taking on premises is in the file lower down, marked to ask first.
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.
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.
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