The number of sunbed shops in the UK has soared by 47 per cent since 2016, from 2,103 to 3,095, according to new analysis by global business database companydata.com. The figure passed the 3,000 mark for the first time this year, with the North East of England having 233 salons.
North East leads in salon density
Newcastle, Sunderland, Durham, Darlington and Teesside postcodes have about 8.5 shops per 100,000 people, almost twice the national average of 4.5. Northern Ireland has 102 salons, or 5.3 per 100,000, while the South West (2.7 per 100,000), South East (3.0) and London (3.2) have the fewest.
An average of 70 salons have opened per year since the pandemic, but 126 have already opened since January began.
Income patterns and European trends
companydata.com says the four regions with the highest disposable income per head are the four with the fewest salons per person. The North East has the lowest income per head in Britain and the most salons, while London has the highest income and, with the South East and South West, among the fewest salons.
Elsewhere in Europe the number of salons is flat or falling, with shops in Germany decreasing from 2,286 salons in 2016 to 1,929 now (16%). Excluding the UK, Europe counted 5,167 salons in 2016 and 4,650 today, a fall of 10 per cent. The sharpest fall is in the Netherlands, declining from 535 salons in 2016 to 420 on 1 January 2026, down 21 per cent.
UK growth and health concerns
The UK now accounts for 40% of European salons found in the study. Cancer Research UK says sunbeds can cause cancer by the UV rays damaging DNA in your skin cells.
Uttam Ramdaras, data analyst at companydata.com, said: "Across Europe tanning salons have been quietly coming off the registers for years. Britain is the exception, and the growth is not in London or the Home Counties but in the North East and the North West. Line the regions up by income and the pattern is hard to miss. The less people earn, the more sunbed shops there are. The data does not tell you why, but it tells you where."
