A site decision is the hardest one to undo. Pricing can be changed next week and staff can be retrained, but a five year lease on the wrong corner is five years. Most of the businesses that regret a location regret it within the first ninety days, and almost always for something they could have checked beforehand.

The good news is that the checks are cheap and most of them involve standing on the pavement with a notebook. The expensive part is skipping them because the unit is nice and somebody else is interested.

Know what rent your business can carry before you look at anything, as a figure and as a share of revenue. Walking into viewings without that number means the agent sets it for you.

Decide what the site has to do. Footfall, parking, a loading door, three-phase power, a grease trap, a specific zoning use. Write the list before you fall for a room.