How London's metal shops show up online
60%
We read the websites of 108 metal shops in London, part of our study of 2,095 shops in 23 Canadian cities. Here is what they show buyers, and how London compares.
What buyers in London see
London's shops are younger than most. Among those that give a year, the middle one started in 1994, and 33% started after 2001. They show their team size more than most cities (9 of 108 do), and 3 show all four basics. Equipment is the gap: 60% name none of it, one of the five highest shares, and only 8% mention rush work, the lowest of the 23 cities.
The basics
Four basics, and how London compares
- 71%show no ISO or CWB certificationAll 23 cities: 74% · 3 points lower · 6th lowest of 23 cities
- 60%name none of their equipmentAll 23 cities: 54% · 6 points higher · tied 5th highest of 23 cities
- 92%don't say how many people work thereAll 23 cities: 96% · 4 points lower · tied 2nd lowest of 23 cities
- 50%don't say when they startedAll 23 cities: 49% · 1 point higher · tied 8th highest of 23 cities
The oldest London shop that gives a year started in 1943.
The shop map
Every one of London's 108 shops, one dot each
Pick what the colours show.
Shows a certification: 31Shows none: 77
Names its equipment: 43Names none: 65
Gives its team size: 9Doesn't say: 99
Each dot is a listed shop with a website, moved a little (about 250 m) so no single shop can be picked out. The darker outline is London. The others are its neighbouring municipalities.
What a buyer checks
A shop's spec sheet, the way most London sites read it
A made-up London shop. A line is struck through when most of the city's 108 sites leave it out.
Sample Fabricating, London
Sample shop, not a real company
- Services
Fabrication, welding, laser cuttingOn nearly every site - Phone
555 010 0142Shown on 106 of 108 - Certification
CWB W47.1 · ISO 9001Missing on 77 of 108 - Equipment
4 kW fiber laser · 220 t press brake · 5 axis millMissing on 65 of 108 - Year started
Since 1989Shown on 54 of 108 - Team size
34 peopleMissing on 99 of 108 - Small jobs
One-offs welcomeMissing on 74 of 108
How it compares
Where London sits among the 23 cities
Each dot is one of the 23 cities. The dark line is all 23 cities together. Each row runs from the lowest city to the highest.
Show no ISO or CWB certification
60%85%
Name none of their equipment
34%73%
Don't say how many people work there
89%100%
Don't say when they started
33%60%
Don't say whether they take small jobs
31%77%
Close to home
London and its neighbours
Kitchener 80 km · Cambridge 85 km · Hamilton 120 km
| Measure | London108 shops | Kitchener63 shops | Cambridge67 shops | Hamilton65 shops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No certification | 71% | 60% | 66% | 75% |
| No equipment | 60% | 41% | 39% | 60% |
| No team size | 92% | 92% | 96% | 99% |
| No year founded | 50% | 33% | 36% | 48% |
How long they have been at it
54 London shops say when they started
- Middle year
- 1994
- tied 4th youngest of 23 cities
- Started in 2001 or earlier
- 67%
- 4th lowest of 23 cities
- Oldest year given
- 1943
The other 54 give no year. Plum: started in 2001 or earlier. Teal: since 2002.
What they show and what they do
Certifications and trades in London
Certifications on their websites
| Group | London | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| None of these | 71% | 74% | 18th |
| ISO only | 15% | 12% | tied 7th |
| CWB only | 10% | 12% | tied 13th |
| Both ISO and CWB | 4% | 3% | tied 5th |
ISO here means ISO 9001, AS9100 or ISO 13485. CWB means CWB W47.1 or W47.2. Rank 1 is the city with the biggest share.
The work they offer
| Work | London | All 23 cities | Rank of 23 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metal fabrication | 73% | 69% | 10th |
| Welding | 56% | 49% | tied 5th |
| Sheet metal, cutting and bending | 48% | 40% | tied 3rd |
| Machining | 42% | 40% | 8th |
| Railings and stairs | 24% | 20% | 7th |
| Structural steel | 18% | 20% | 15th |
Shares of all the city's shops. A shop can do several kinds of work. Rank 1 is the city with the biggest share.
If the site doesn't name the machines, an engineer can't tell if the part will fit
Industry in London
A few numbers on industry in London
- Over 20,000manufacturing workers in London regionSource: London Economic Development Corporation, defence and aerospace
From the city's page on Metal Shop Guide, each with its source.
For shop owners
In London, add these three things first
In the order of the city's own gaps: what most sites here leave out first.
- 0192%of sites here don't show it
How many you are
Roughly how many people work there.
- 0271%of sites here don't show it
Your certifications, by name and standard
CWB W47.1 Division 2, ISO 9001:2015, AS9100D. Link the certificate.
- 0369%of sites here don't show it
The jobs you take
One-offs, prototypes, short runs or production only. If there's a minimum, say so.
Source
Where these numbers come from
For London, Metal Shop Guide covers London and area and lists 110 shops. 108 have a website of their own, and those are the shops we read, as of October 28, 2026. “Not shown” means we didn't find it on the pages we read. A blind check of 40 shops suggests each share is a few points high.
One shop is 0.9% of the London total, so small gaps can be chance.
Cite this page: Figured Media, “How London's metal shops show up online”, October 2026, with data from Metal Shop Guide. https://figuredmedia.com/research/metal-shops-online-2026/london/
Photo credits
- London, at the top: Photo by Mcalpinestudios, CC BY-SA 4.0, edited (cropped)
- Shop floor, behind the quote: Photo by Cemrecan Yurtman, Unsplash License, edited (cropped)
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Shop map: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census boundary files, Open Government Licence, Canada. Country map: Natural Earth, public domain.