Signage leads: the shops and cafés before the sign goes up

The fascia and the window graphics go up in the fit-out weeks, before the doors open, and a shop under a new owner usually gets a new name over the door. We tell you which units are at that point, every weekday.

Why timing matters

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 fit-outs are public weeks before opening day. A change of owner at a pub, shop or restaurant shows on the registers too, and a new owner usually changes the name on the front.

What we tell you

The moments that matter for you:

How to use it

Ring the ones about to open first, then the ones that changed hands. The trade column says whether there's a shopfront.

Last week in numbers

In the daily files from 17 to 23 October 2026, businesses that took on premises, changed hands or were about to, graded A or B for a signage desk: 154 across Great Britain, 122 of them opening or about to and 32 just moved in or under a new owner. 116 came with a landline to ring. 64% of them could not have been flagged by a service working from Companies House alone: the premises isn't the registered office, or nothing new was on the register.

Some of last week's rows for Yorkshire and The Humber, said in words (the file has the name, the address, the number and where each came from):

• A pub in Leeds, not open yet, 22 October. A landline to ring. A mailbox.
• A haulage or goods vehicle operator in North Lincolnshire, not open yet, 21 October. A landline to ring.
• A takeaway in Leeds, opening or just opened, 23 October. A line at the premises, which may be the last occupier’s.
• A restaurant or cafe in Leeds, opening or just opened, 23 October. A landline to ring.
• A restaurant, bar or café business in Leeds, opening or just opened, 21 October. A landline to ring. A mailbox.
• A dental practice in Kirklees, new owner, 20 October. A landline to ring.

Counted from the daily files dated 17 to 23 October 2026, the seven days to the latest file, as they were read on 24 October 2026. Each event is counted once, on the first file it reached.

Coverage

The national registers cover every council in Great Britain. On top of those, 96 councils publish a business rates list we can use and 69 a licensing register (as of 25 October 2026), and more are added each week. 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.

Questions

Is it only retail and hospitality?

They come first, because they have fronts to sign. Offices, workshops and depots are in the file too, lower down, for the ones that want every unit.

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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