Explore our business guides
Grow your business with HOLD
Everything you need to plan and run your business
Document storage for London businesses
What business records to keep, how long the law requires, and how to store them securely without giving up office space. Covers HMRC, Companies Act and GDPR retention rules.
Can you run a business from a storage unit?
Whether it's legally possible, what to consider when choosing one, and practical tips for using the space well.
Can you write off a storage unit on taxes?
When storage costs qualify as a tax-deductible business expense, and how to claim it correctly.
Do storage units accept deliveries?
How HOLD accepts parcels at reception on your behalf, plus a comparison of home, workplace and storage-unit delivery options.
Real businesses run from HOLD
Tea Shirt®: award-winning tea, run from a unit
Andras and Kriszti sell premium loose-leaf teas online and at London markets, with 22 food and drink awards to their name. Andras runs daily operations from their HOLD unit: packing, labelling, receiving deliveries and dispatching orders.
AV2Hire: London's AV specialists
John Reynolds stores 95% of AV2Hire's stock at HOLD, using the unit as a workshop between hires and for late-night returns.
Tuscany & Taste: from 25 to 150 sq ft
Egizia and Marco sell Italian truffles and cured meats at London markets, storing their full range and all their stall kit in one unit that's grown with the business.
How storage works for London businesses
Learn how HOLD supports your business
How does self storage help businesses?
Inventory, office overflow, archives, seasonal stock: the practical case for self storage over a warehouse, and how HOLD's flexible units and 24/7 access fit a business still finding its shape.
How secure is self storage in London?
15:55Claude responded: Worried about leaving your belongings in storage during a move?Worried about leaving your belongings in storage during a move? This video walks through everything HOLD does to keep your items safe, from individually alarmed units to 24/7 CCTV and nightly security checks.
Can I access my storage unit 24/7?
Life doesn't always move at a convenient hour, and neither does a house move. This video explains how HOLD's 24/7 access works, including how to request it and what to expect when you arrive outside standard hour
What items can I store in a self storage unit?
From furniture and appliances to business stock and seasonal kit, this video covers what's welcome in a HOLD unit, what isn't, and how to prepare your belongings before they go in.
Meet the experts
Hear from our experts
Frederick de Ryckman de Betz
Founder, HOLD Storage & Former Chair, Self Storage Association UK
Fred has been in the self storage business since 2006. In recent years he has also been the chairman of the Self Storage Association (SSA) and former Vice President of FEDESSA. After leaving his previous company, and seeing out his restrictive covenant, he became a co-founder of HOLD in September 2023.
Chris Nguyen
Partner, Head of King's Cross Lettings
Chris Nguyen joined Knight Frank’s Canary Wharf lettings team as a negotiator in 2017. He enjoyed a stellar 2021 for the firm, and broke the record for the most deals agreed in a financial year. Promoted to Associate later that year, he is now Head of Lettings for Knight Frank in its King’s Cross office.
Paul Westcott
Founder - Relōku Removals
Paul is the founder/operator of Relōku, an award-winning urban moving/logistics platform that uses cutting-edge technology to help Londoners access removals, quickly.
Self Storage services offered at HOLD
faqs
Start with whichever card matches your situation closest. Most businesses share the same underlying needs, so even the wrong guide will answer most of your questions.
For most of what's on this page, a unit does the job. Office contents, stock, event kit and archives all work the same way: something a business needs to keep secure but doesn't need daily access to.
See our moving office or ecommerce guides for what that looks like in practice.
Depends on the business. Online sellers pack and dispatch orders from theirs, market traders use theirs between events, and businesses mid-office-move use HOLD's workpods while the new space isn't ready. Each guide covers what's realistic for that type of work.
It varies by business type and unit size, which is why each guide on this page has its own pricing detail. Our full price breakdown covers every unit size if you want the general picture first.
Probably. The guides are the most common patterns HOLD sees, not the only ones. The small business storage and stock storage pages cover general use cases if nothing here matches exactly.
It depends entirely on what you're storing, which is covered on each individual guide. Use our storage unit size guide as the general starting point for every business type.