Find businesses to buy / Nurseries
Buy a childcare nursery in the UK
Nurseries are registered by Ofsted with a fixed number of places, which makes capacity visible before you ever contact the owner.
- 8,786companies on the Ofsted register
- 39%trade from premises traceable to HM Land Registry
- 28employees on average
- 13years trading on average
- 25%have a charge outstanding
- 15publish a bed count
Figures read from the register data as at 20 August 2026.
What the Ofsted registration means
Childcare providers register with Ofsted on the Early Years Register. The registration records the provider, the setting and the number of registered places, and Ofsted inspects and publishes an outcome.
Why buyers look here
Registered places cap revenue the way beds do in a care home, so two settings can be compared on a like basis. Government funding for early years has expanded, and the sector remains mostly single-site and owner-managed.
What to check
- Registered places are a ceiling on capacity, not a measure of occupancy.
- Registration attaches to the provider and the premises together.
- Ofsted inspection outcomes are published separately and are not reproduced here.
- Two in five own their premises, so the rest depend on a lease you will need to read.
How to search
Choose Nurseries on the search screen and narrow by town, how long the business has traded, how ownership is held, and whether the premises are traceable. Searching is free and shows the shape of each company without naming it. A report on one company costs from £4.90.
Related sectors
- Buy a care home in the UK
- Buy a domiciliary care agency in the UK
- Buy a supported living provider in the UK
- Buy a dental practice in the UK
SME44 is an intelligence platform, not an adviser, and nothing here is for sale. Public registers contain errors and delays, and our matching of one register to another can too. Verify anything important against the source register before acting. Nothing here is legal, financial, tax or investment advice.