London · 2025-26
Business Rates in Tower Hamlets
Businesses in Tower Hamlets paid £419.1m in net business rates during 2025-26, above the average English council's £93.2m.
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Relief granted in Tower Hamlets
Share of £99.8m total relief, 2025-26.
Tower Hamlets at a glance
Tower Hamlets granted £99.8m in relief overall, higher than the national council average of £26.3m. This included £14.9m in Small Business Rate Relief and £24.6m in retail, hospitality and leisure relief.
A further £30.6m went to charity relief and £26.4m to empty property relief, reflecting the mix of ratepayers across the local authority.
Tower Hamlets has an estimated 17,225 active businesses, according to the latest ONS Business Counts (2025).
Tower Hamlets ranks 34 out of 296 local authorities in England on the 2025 Index of Multiple Deprivation, where 1 is most deprived and 296 is least deprived.
Following the 2026 revaluation, the total rateable value of office property in Tower Hamlets rose by 4.6% — if this pushed your assessment too high, an appeal may be worth considering.
Frequently asked questions
How much are business rates in Tower Hamlets?
Tower Hamlets's local authority collected £419.1m in net business rates income during 2025-26, based on the national multiplier applied to each property's rateable value, less any relief granted.
What reliefs are available in Tower Hamlets?
Tower Hamlets granted £99.8m in business rates relief in 2025-26, including £14.9m in Small Business Rate Relief, £24.6m in retail, hospitality and leisure relief, £30.6m in charity relief, and £26.4m in empty property relief.
How do I know if I'm overpaying?
If your rateable value looks high compared to similar properties nearby, or you're not currently receiving relief you may be entitled to, it's worth checking your assessment. Use our free checker to compare your rateable value and see if you may be eligible for a reduction or backdated refund.
Tower Hamlets compared with London and England
- Average rateable value
- £57,398£7,523 below the London average (£64,921)£23,408 above the England average (£33,990)
- Largest sector by value
- Office property, 58.0%12.6 percentage points above its 45.4% share in London
- Total rateable value, 2023 to 2026 list
- +14.1%London: +22.5%England: +19.6%
Counts and rateable values are from the stock of properties at March 2026, on the 2023 rating list. Changes are from the 2026 revaluation, comparing the 2023 rating list with the 2026 rating list.
Property mix
Tower Hamlets ranks 21st of 296 English councils for average rateable value, at £57,398, and 10th of 33 in London. The same sector leads on numbers too: 34.8% of Tower Hamlets's rateable properties fall in the office category.
Retail makes up 18.7% of Tower Hamlets's rateable properties and 11.3% of its rateable value, both below the 28.9% and 19.7% across London. At March 2026, Tower Hamlets had 300 properties with a rateable value of £500,000 or more, 4th most of any English council and 1.8% of England's 16,900, and 330 on the 2026 list.
Change at the 2026 revaluation
Tower Hamlets's +14.1% change in total rateable value at the 2026 revaluation was weaker than in 28 of the 32 other councils in London. The sharpest increase in Tower Hamlets was in other commercial property, where total rateable value rose 35.0% at the 2026 revaluation, compared with +44.5% for other commercial property across London. No sector fell in Tower Hamlets: office property moved least, up 4.6% at the 2026 revaluation, compared with +14.4% for office property across London.
Reliefs
In 2025-26, relief in Tower Hamlets came to 17.7% of gross rates payable, below the 21.2% for England as a whole. Charity relief was the largest of the four main reliefs in Tower Hamlets, at 30.6% of total relief, close to 29.7% across England.
Source: HM Revenue & Customs, using Valuation Office Agency data, and MHCLG relief returns. Open Government Licence v3.0. Method and rounding: /methodology.
See how Tower Hamlets compares with the rest of the region: Business rates in London, State of Business Rates in England 2026 →
Nearby areas
Compare with other councils in London
Other London councils with their average rateable value, listed from the closest to Tower Hamlets's £57,398.
- Business rates in Islington£57,512 average rateable value, £114 higher than Tower Hamlets
- Business rates in Hammersmith & Fulham£56,779 average rateable value, £619 lower than Tower Hamlets
- Business rates in Newham£58,457 average rateable value, £1,059 higher than Tower Hamlets
- Business rates in Hounslow£61,024 average rateable value, £3,626 higher than Tower Hamlets
- Business rates in Southwark£63,624 average rateable value, £6,226 higher than Tower Hamlets
- Business rates in Lambeth£49,473 average rateable value, £7,925 lower than Tower Hamlets
Figures from MHCLG National Non-Domestic Rates statistics (2025-26), ONS UK Business Counts (2025), and English Indices of Deprivation (2025).
Updates for Tower Hamlets
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