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Holiday let or B&B companies in London

1,604 holiday let or B&B companies have a registered office in London, and 729 of them were formed in 2025 or 2026. In their latest accounts, the typical one held £4,385 in cash and owed £19,475 at year end.

Companies House register, 1 September 2026, and accounts filed in the last twelve months. Compared with the official category “Other holiday and other collective accommodation” (SIC 55209).

The numbers

Holiday let or B&B companies in London compared with the same category across the UK. Typical figures are medians.
MeasureLondonUK
Registered companies1,60413,821
Formed in 2025 or 2026729 (45%)29%
Being struck off or in liquidation123 (7.7%)5.4%
Typical cash at year end£4,385191 accounts£7,987
Typical amount owed at year end£19,475566 accounts£36,012
Typical number of employees1575 accounts1

What this means if you’re starting one

Cash is tight in this trade

At year end the typical holiday let or b&b company in London holds £4,385 in cash and owes £19,475; that cash figure is lower than 91% of UK industries.

Typical operators end the year holding less cash than they owe, so there is little slack if takings dip or a big bill lands early.

Most of your competition will be other newcomers

45% of the 1,604 holiday let or B&B companies in London were formed in 2025–26, against 28% of all companies in London. Nationally, that share of new companies is higher than 85% of UK industries.

New rivals are arriving faster than in most trades, so your customers already have fresh options. Being new is not a difference on its own.

London has fewer of these businesses than most places

Holiday let or B&B companies are 0.14% of companies registered in London, against 0.25% UK-wide (0.6× the national share).

That could be a gap or a sign of weak demand. The register cannot tell which.

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What these figures can’t tell you

Companies are counted where their registered office is, which may be an accountant or a home address rather than a shop. Sole traders and partnerships are not on the register, and electronically filed accounts cover roughly 60–75% of accounts filed each year. The figures describe companies that exist; they cannot prove demand for your idea or predict whether it will work. How the figures are built.

Holiday let or B&B in other places

Other businesses in London

All business benchmarks in London