Startup Costs publishes UK startup-cost guides: what it actually costs, in pounds, to start a business in the UK. Coffee vans, limited companies, hair salons, courier businesses, market stalls — each guide breaks the real numbers down into the van or premises, the equipment, the licences, the insurance and the ongoing running costs, so you can see the whole picture before you commit any money.
No guesswork, no sales pitch
That line is on our homepage because it is the actual brief every guide is held to. We are not trying to talk anyone into starting a business, and we are not building the numbers to look bigger or smaller than they are. Costs are shown as ranges, because real prices vary by supplier, region and the scale you are operating at, and a single figure would be a false precision we are not willing to publish.
How the figures are checked
Cost ranges are compiled from current UK supplier pricing, specialist quotes and insurer premiums. Regulatory and legal costs — registration fees, licensing costs, mandatory insurance minimums — are checked against primary official sources: GOV.UK, the Food Standards Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and the equivalent regulator for the business in question, not against other blogs repeating the same second-hand numbers. Every guide with a Sources and Methodology section states the date it was last checked against those sources, and we revisit guides as prices and rules move.
We are honest about the limits of that process too: supplier pricing changes, councils set their own local fees, and insurance premiums vary by individual circumstances. Every figure on this site is a planning range, not a quote, and none of it is financial, legal or tax advice — see our Terms of Use for the full position on that.
Who writes the guides
Startup Costs is written and maintained by the Startup Costs editorial team. We publish under a team byline rather than a single named author, because guides are researched, drafted and checked as a repeatable process rather than one person's personal take.
Who publishes the site
Startup Costs is published by Bright Loop Media, a UK web development and content studio. Some guides on this site include Amazon Associates affiliate links — see our Affiliate Disclosure for exactly how those work and how we handle them.
Found an error?
Costs move, councils change their fees, and we are working through more than fifty guides — mistakes happen. If you spot a figure that looks wrong or out of date, please get in touch and let us know which guide and which number; we would rather fix it than leave it standing.