UK hotels, restaurants and food businesses in numbers (October 2026)
Key figures compared with the UK
| Measure | This sector | All UK | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active companies | 248,796 | 5,166,057 | 4.8% of UK |
| Median company age (years) | 3.1 | 5.6 | 45% lower |
| Incorporated in the last 3 years | 49.1% | 34.0% | 15.1 pts higher |
| Filing micro-entity accounts | 31.2% | 32.4% | close to UK |
| Filing dormant accounts | 6.5% | 10.8% | 4.3 pts lower |
| Accounts overdue | 2.1% | 1.8% | 0.3 pts higher |
| Under a proposal to strike off | 13.5% | 7.4% | 6.1 pts higher |
| In liquidation, administration or receivership | 3.3% | 2.0% | 1.3 pts higher |
| With outstanding charges (secured lending) | 9.1% | 12.1% | 3.0 pts lower |
| Median net assets | £1,538 | £3,113 | 51% lower |
| Negative net assets | 28.5% | 18.8% | 9.7 pts higher |
| Net current liabilities | 50.7% | 36.2% | 14.5 pts higher |
| Median cash at bank | £10k | £10k | close to UK |
| Cash covers creditors due within a year | 26.2% | 35.3% | 9.1 pts lower |
| Holding £100k or more in cash | 16.2% | 20.3% | 4.1 pts lower |
| Median employees (where stated) | 3 | 1 | 200% higher |
Balance sheet measures use each active company's most recent machine-readable (iXBRL) accounts with a period ending in 2024 or later: 155,837 companies here (62.6% of active). Net assets 25th to 75th percentile: -£2,104 to £28k. Cash 25th to 75th percentile: £1,246 to £52k.
What the numbers say
Hospitality differs from the UK average on almost every balance sheet measure, and most of the gap has an ordinary business explanation.
The median current ratio is 0.88, below 1, while the UK median is 1.19. Half of hospitality companies (50.7%) show net current liabilities. Restaurants, take-aways and pubs are paid in cash or by card on the day, but buy food, drink and services on supplier credit, so they can operate with more short-term creditors than current assets. That pattern is normal for the sector and is not, on its own, a sign of distress.
Negative net assets are much more common: 28.5% against 18.8%, and even the lower quartile of net assets is negative (minus £2,104). Part of the reason is likely that fit-out costs are often funded by director loans, and a newly opened restaurant usually records losses before it builds a customer base. The share has been high for a long time: 27.6% for financial years ending in 2014, a dip to 22.8% in 2018, and 28.5% in 2025, roughly ten points above the UK in most years. It remains a warning sign, not proof of insolvency, as our guide to negative net assets explains.
Churn is high. Under a proposal to strike off: 13.5% against 7.4%. In an insolvency process: 3.3% against 2.0%. The sector is also young, and getting younger: 45,410 of today's active hospitality companies were incorporated in 2025, against 28,674 in 2024 and 5,729 in 2016. The largest code is 56103 take-away food shops and mobile food stands (72,535 live companies), ahead of 56101 licensed restaurants (54,321).
Hospitality companies also employ more people than most: the median stated headcount is 3, against 1 for the UK. Before supplying a restaurant or hotel on credit, check the company first, and compare it with wholesale and retail, which shares many of the same cash-based habits.
Share with negative net assets, 2014 to 2025
Share of accounts with net liabilities (total liabilities larger than total assets) by financial year end, for companies on the live register. Dissolved companies are not included because the register no longer lists their industry, so earlier years show survivors. Negative net assets is a warning sign, not proof of insolvency: see what negative net assets means.
Accounts types filed
| Type of last accounts | Share here | Share UK |
|---|---|---|
| No accounts filed yet | 35.2% | 26.0% |
| Micro-entity | 31.2% | 32.4% |
| Total exemption full | 21.7% | 23.8% |
| Dormant | 6.5% | 10.8% |
| Unaudited abridged | 3.0% | 2.9% |
| Small | 1.1% | 1.2% |
| Full (audited) | 0.8% | 1.5% |
The type shows how much a company has to disclose. Micro-entity and abridged accounts contain no profit and loss account on the public record. Read more about accounts categories and micro-entities.
Active companies by year of incorporation
Companies incorporated in each year that are still active today. Younger cohorts are larger partly because older ones have been dissolved.
Most common activity codes
| SIC | Activity | Live companies |
|---|---|---|
| 56103 | Take-away food shops and mobile food stands | 72,535 |
| 56101 | Licensed restaurants | 54,321 |
| 56102 | Unlicensed restaurants and cafes | 44,725 |
| 56302 | Public houses and bars | 34,024 |
| 56210 | Event catering activities | 21,185 |
| 55100 | Hotels and similar accommodation | 19,763 |
| 56290 | Other food services | 19,708 |
| 55209 | Other holiday and other collective accommodation | 13,984 |
Divisions in this section
| Division | Active companies | Negative net assets | Median cash | Overdue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 Food and beverage service activities | 202,759 | 29.4% | £9,646 | 2.1% |
| 55 Accommodation | 46,037 | 24.9% | £14k | 2.3% |
Methodology
Industry is the first SIC code each company declares on the Companies House register (snapshot 1 October 2026); the dormant placeholder 99999 is excluded. Status, accounts type and due dates come from the register. Financial measures come from our parse of 37 million iXBRL accounts filed since 2008; values above £100bn are treated as extraction errors. Companies filing paper or PDF accounts are not in the balance sheet figures. Full details: methodology.
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