Where is fuel cheapest in the UK?

Where you fill up makes a real difference to what you pay. We compared petrol and diesel prices at every forecourt in the UK by nation, council area, brand and single forecourt to find where fuel is cheapest and where it costs the most.

All prices are from the Fuel Finder snapshot at 06:47 on 17 September 2026, covering 8,072 forecourts. For today’s prices, use our UK fuel price finder.

Which part of the UK has the cheapest fuel?

Northern Ireland has the cheapest fuel in the UK, with petrol averaging 166.2p a litre and diesel 189.7p. That is 5.6p below the UK average for petrol and 5.1p below for diesel.

Petrol and diesel prices by nation

Wales came second for both fuels, and Scotland was the dearest of the four nations. The differences across Great Britain are small next to the gap with Northern Ireland.

Nation	Forecourts with a petrol price	Petrol (E10)	Diesel (B7)	Petrol against UK average
Northern Ireland	475	166.2p	189.7p	−5.6p
Wales	478	171.1p	194.1p	−0.7p
England	6,025	172.2p	195.1p	+0.4p
Scotland	736	172.9p	196.2p	+1.1p
UK	7,714	171.8p	194.8p

Petrol is E10 unleaded and diesel is standard B7, the two fuels most drivers buy. Every forecourt with a current price counts equally.

What the gap means on a fill

A 55-litre petrol fill cost £3.30 less in Northern Ireland than in England, and £3.69 less than in Scotland. For diesel, Northern Ireland was 5.4p a litre cheaper than England and 6.5p cheaper than Scotland.

Scotland’s lead over England as the dearest nation is slim, at 0.7p a litre for petrol and 1.1p for diesel. Where you are within each nation matters far more, as the council area figures show.

Related: Fuel prices in Northern Ireland

Which council areas have the cheapest and dearest petrol?

Rossendale in Lancashire had the cheapest petrol of any council area, at 165.7p a litre. The Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar) and West Berkshire were the dearest at 179.9p, a gap of 14.2p or £7.81 on a 55-litre fill.

The eight cheapest and dearest areas

We ranked the 345 council areas in Great Britain with at least five forecourts reporting a usable petrol price. Northern Ireland isn’t included because we can’t place its forecourts in council areas.

Cheapest area	Petrol	Diesel	Dearest area	Petrol	Diesel
Rossendale	165.7p	191.6p	Na h-Eileanan Siar	179.9p	203.9p
Gloucester	165.9p	189.8p	West Berkshire	179.9p	201.6p
Cheltenham	166.3p	188.2p	Tandridge	178.7p	198.5p
Watford	166.6p	187.0p	Uttlesford	178.7p	200.0p
Redditch	166.6p	190.0p	Bolsover	177.7p	199.6p
South Tyneside	166.9p	190.3p	Broxbourne	177.5p	198.7p
East Ayrshire	167.0p	190.2p	North West Leicestershire	177.2p	197.0p
York	167.4p	189.3p	Cheshire East	177.2p	198.7p

Averages are rounded to 0.1p, so areas on the same figure are tied. Areas are listed in order of petrol price.

The cheapest areas

Petrol in Rossendale averaged 165.7p across 12 forecourts, so a few price changes could move it down the table. Gloucester was only 0.2p behind with 20 forecourts, and neighbouring Cheltenham came third at 166.3p.

Scotland’s best showing was East Ayrshire at 167.0p, in seventh place. The cheapest areas are spread from Lancashire and Tyneside down to Gloucestershire and Hertfordshire.

Diesel follows a similar pattern

For diesel, Watford was cheapest at 187.0p, followed by Cheltenham (188.2p) and York (189.3p). The Western Isles was dearest again at 203.9p, 16.9p a litre above Watford.

Orkney (201.7p across six forecourts), West Berkshire (201.6p), Uttlesford (200.0p) and the Isle of Wight (199.9p) came next. Orkney has too few forecourts with a petrol price to appear in the petrol table.

Why are some areas so much dearer than others?

Areas with motorway services and remote island areas dominate the dearest list. 13 of the 20 dearest council areas have at least one motorway service forecourt, against just 1 of the 20 cheapest.

Motorway services pull area averages up

Motorway forecourts charge far more than any other type, so an area with a service station in it gets a higher average. Of the 345 ranked areas, 88 contain at least one forecourt that describes itself as motorway services.

Take those out and West Berkshire falls from 179.9p to 175.6p, still dear but no longer top. Chorley in Lancashire drops from 176.9p to 170.6p, below the UK average of 171.8p.

We look at that premium in detail in how much more motorway services charge for fuel. Across the UK, motorway forecourts averaged 190.6p for petrol against 168.8p at supermarkets.

Islands and remote areas stay dear

The Western Isles has no motorway forecourts, yet it shares top spot for petrol at 179.9p and is dearest for diesel at 203.9p. The Isle of Wight averaged 177.1p for petrol and 199.9p for diesel, also with no motorway forecourts.

Our data shows island prices are high, but it can’t tell us why. Numbers are small too: the Western Isles average covers 11 forecourts, and the Isles of Scilly has only one.

Which fuel brands are cheapest?

Among brands with at least 20 forecourts, Go (164.9p) and Maxol (165.9p) had the cheapest petrol, but almost all their forecourts are in Northern Ireland. In Great Britain, Asda (168.4p) and Tesco (168.5p) led, while Shell (175.4p) and BP (174.9p) were the dearest large networks.

Northern Irish chains top the table

Go has 27 of its 32 forecourts in Northern Ireland, and Maxol has 92 of its 93. Every Solo and Circle K forecourt is there too, so the top of the brand table mostly reflects Northern Ireland’s lower prices.

The same supermarket charges less there as well. Tesco averaged 163.3p for petrol at 19 forecourts in Northern Ireland and 168.7p at 388 in England, a gap of 5.4p.

Brand	Forecourts	Petrol	Diesel	Note
Go	32	164.9p	189.1p	27 in Northern Ireland
Maxol	93	165.9p	189.3p	92 in Northern Ireland
Solo	51	166.0p	190.3p	All in Northern Ireland
Circle K	44	167.7p	189.8p	All in Northern Ireland
Asda	321	168.4p	191.0p	Supermarket
Tesco	509	168.5p	190.6p	Supermarket
Sainsbury’s	315	169.0p	190.6p	Supermarket
Morrisons	339	169.1p	192.0p	Supermarket
Jet	302	170.1p	193.2p
Murco	159	170.4p	193.4p
Texaco	486	170.8p	194.1p
Pace	51	171.0p	193.8p
Valero	167	171.1p	194.4p
EG On The Move	147	171.6p	194.5p
Essar	32	171.7p	194.2p
Gulf	279	172.2p	195.6p
Asda Express	84	172.3p	195.5p
Esso	1,429	172.6p	196.3p	Largest network
Spar	23	172.8p	195.5p
Gleaner	27	173.6p	197.7p
Highland Fuels	21	173.7p	195.7p
BP	1,031	174.9p	197.8p
Shell	872	175.4p	198.0p
Welcome Break	40	187.2p	208.4p	Motorway operator

The supermarkets lead in Great Britain

Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons were within 0.7p of each other, between 168.4p and 169.1p. Shell charged 7.0p a litre more than Asda for petrol, which adds £3.85 to a 55-litre fill.

Welcome Break, which runs motorway service areas, was the dearest brand in the UK at 187.2p. Brand averages count each forecourt equally, and every network has cheaper and dearer sites.

Is Costco the cheapest place to buy fuel?

Forecourts branded Costco Wholesale averaged 162.5p for petrol and 184.1p for diesel, lower than any brand in the table. That is 5.9p a litre below Asda, but you need a Costco membership to fill up there.

Costco Wholesale has 18 forecourts under that brand name, under our 20-forecourt cut-off, which is why it isn’t in the table. Five Costco forecourts charged 158.9p for petrol: Watford, Edinburgh, Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool.

Where are the cheapest and dearest single forecourts?

The cheapest petrol in the UK was 157.9p a litre, at Asda Sheffield Supercentre and a Maxol forecourt in Craigavon. The dearest was 203.0p at the Cluanie Inn Hotel in the Highlands, a spread of 45.1p a litre.

The cheapest forecourts

Asda Sheffield Supercentre last changed its price on 15 September. The Craigavon price was last updated on 3 September, close to the 14-day point at which we treat a price as out of date.

On a 55-litre fill, the 45.1p spread between the cheapest and dearest petrol comes to £24.81. Asda Sheffield’s diesel, at 176.9p, was joint cheapest apart from one price that looks like a keying error.

Forecourt	Place	Fuel	Price
Asda Sheffield Supercentre	Sheffield	Petrol	157.9p
B&C Litter (Maxol)	Craigavon	Petrol	157.9p
Costco Wholesale Watford	Watford	Petrol	158.9p
Cluanie Inn Hotel	Highlands	Petrol	203.0p
Asda Sheffield Supercentre	Sheffield	Diesel	176.9p
Thorn House	Penrith	Diesel	230.0p
Island Carriers	Isles of Scilly	Diesel	220.0p
Steisean Connaidh Chrosabol	Crossapol, Tiree	Diesel	219.6p

The dearest forecourts

Seven forecourts charged 198.0p or more for petrol, and five of them were Esso-branded Asda Express motorway forecourts. The other two were the Cluanie Inn Hotel at 203.0p and Bridgend Shop on Islay at 198.0p.

Diesel reached 230.0p at Thorn House near Penrith, then 220.0p on the Isles of Scilly and 219.6p on Tiree. All three were above the dearest motorway diesel, 217.9p.

Are fuel prices going up or down?

Prices are rising. The government’s weekly figures put petrol at 168.14p and diesel at 190.72p in the week of 14 September 2026, up 18.34p and 26.20p from their summer lows.

What Fuel Finder shows this week

Our daily Fuel Finder averages only go back three days, which is too short to call a trend. UK petrol edged up from 171.1p on 15 September to 171.8p on 17 September, and diesel from 193.6p to 194.8p.

What the government’s weekly figures show

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero publishes weekly road fuel prices, giving average UK pump prices each week. Petrol fell to a summer low of 149.80p on 6 July 2026 and diesel to 164.52p on 13 July, and in the latest week alone they rose 3.74p and 4.36p.

Both were lower still earlier in the year, at 131.46p for petrol and 140.72p for diesel on 9 February 2026. A year earlier, on 15 September 2025, petrol was 133.81p and diesel 141.69p.

Diesel is now 8.50p below the highest figure in the weekly series, 199.22p on 4 July 2022.

These weekly figures are measured differently from Fuel Finder, so they won’t match the averages in this article. Compare each series only with itself.

How can you find the cheapest fuel near you?

Check prices before you set off and favour supermarket forecourts, which averaged 168.8p for petrol against 172.5p at other forecourts. Our fuel finder sorts every forecourt near a postcode by price.

Get cheap fuel alerts for your area

Our free weekly fuel price email lists the five cheapest forecourts for petrol and diesel within 5 miles of your postcode. It uses the same Fuel Finder prices as this article, and you can check any time on the fuel prices page.

How we measured it

Every UK forecourt must report price changes to the government’s Fuel Finder scheme within 30 minutes. We read the open Fuel Finder data twice a day.

We leave out prices that haven’t changed for 14 days or look like typing errors, and every forecourt counts equally. Forecourts are placed in council areas by postcode, and the full rules are on our methodology page.