The UK Local Trades Review Gap
We analysed Google ratings and review counts for 2,285 local businesses across London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds. The trades that do the best work are often the hardest to find online.
4.95
top trade: plumbing & heating
4.11
lowest: takeaways — a near full-star gap
53%
of car washes have no website
4.71
overall average across 2,285 businesses
Britain’s best- and worst-reviewed local trades
Skilled, booked-in-advance trades — where reputation drives the next job — score highest. High-volume, walk-in services score lowest. Average Google rating by trade (categories with 30+ businesses):
| Trade | Avg rating | Businesses |
|---|---|---|
| Plumbing & Heating | 4.95 | 48 |
| Man & Van / removals | 4.91 | 49 |
| Cosmetic clinics | 4.90 | 100 |
| Vehicle recovery | 4.89 | 59 |
| Renovation | 4.87 | 83 |
| Home cleaning | 4.85 | 44 |
| Plumbing & drainage | 4.84 | 144 |
| Roofing | 4.84 | 141 |
| Interior design | 4.84 | 114 |
| Car dealers | 4.57 | 103 |
| Sweet shops | 4.31 | 100 |
| Car washes | 4.25 | 120 |
| Takeaways | 4.11 | 80 |
Overall average across all 2,285 businesses: 4.71/5.
The “review desert”: great trades nobody can see
The highest-rated trades are frequently the least reviewed. A roofer with a 4.84 average and 64 reviews is almost certainly losing work to a louder, lower-rated competitor — not because the work is worse, but because fewer people see the proof. (For context: sweet shops average 1,824 reviews, takeaways 1,552.)
| Trade | Avg rating | Avg reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Interior design | 4.84 | 22 |
| Renovation | 4.87 | 39 |
| Roofing | 4.84 | 64 |
| Vehicle recovery | 4.89 | 79 |
The website gap is real — and trade-specific
More than half of car washes have no website at all — they live entirely on Google and walk-ins. Share of businesses with no website on file:
City league table
London leads on both ratings and digital presence. Birmingham pulls the most reviews on average but has the lowest website adoption and the lowest average rating — the biggest “strong demand, weak shopfront” gap of the five.
| City | Avg rating | Avg reviews | Have a website |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 4.79 | 309 | 97% |
| Manchester | 4.68 | 343 | 84% |
| Leeds | 4.66 | 300 | 88% |
| Liverpool | 4.63 | 236 | 83% |
| Birmingham | 4.59 | 375 | 80% |
Methodology
Based on 2,285 approved business listings Spotlit tracks across London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds, analysed in June 2026. Figures use each listing’s Google rating and review count, plus whether a website is on file. Trade-level rankings include only categories with 30 or more businesses so no result rests on a handful of records. This is an analysis of the businesses Spotlit lists, not a random sample of every UK business.
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