Apply to trade in Camden

Why you should become a street trader

With its low start-up and running costs, street trading is a great way to start your own business.

Many thriving businesses started as market stalls; from familiar high street names such as Marks & Spencer, Poundland, and Tesco to fashion brands such as Dunelm and Super Dry as well as snack companies like Innocent drinks. Markets are exciting and vibrant places, even if you just want to work for yourself and are not yet ready to start a retail empire.

Different private markets have different arrangements for renting their pitches and stalls to traders including written contracts and informal, daily, arrangements.

The Council licences traders under the London Local Authorities Act 1990 (as amended) and our traders enjoy certain legal protections. Unlike commercial operators, we cannot use fees and charges from our traders to generate a profit and must set the fees based on the cost of providing the service. This is why trading on Council run markets is often much cheaper than trading on private markets.

Our market’s team currently licenses trading on:

• our eight street markets
• our fifty miscellaneous sites and kiosks (these are usually on busy streets or outside tube stations and are often florists or newsagents)
• forecourts (this is trading on private land where the customer is on the street whilst being served, often this is where a shop owns some pavement and is renting it to another businesses or where the shop owner is selling something different to the business of their shop)

We also grant licences for special events that involve street trading.

Consent to put tables and chairs on the street is dealt with by our Customer Service Team.

Getting training and obtaining loans

If you are resident in London you might qualify for Start Up Step Up London, a programme designed to help Londoners access entrepreneurship and improve their enterprise skills.

You can find out more information about becoming a street trader, and accessing low-cost funding to help you start your business, at the following places:

• National Careers Service
• National Market Traders Federation
• Start Up Loans UK

Equipment suppliers

There are many places to buy market equipment but the following links are a good place to start:

Market equipment and stalls

• Apex Market Stalls
• Shopfittings
• Tarapflex
• Trader Supplies

Electrical adapters

• City Electrical Factors
• Screwfix
• Toolstation

Find storage space

Some of our markets are close to housing estates that have vacant garages.

For information about who can rent garages and costs, please see our Apply for a garage page. Applications are handled by our Estate Management Team.

If you are applying for a garage, please use the lookup function to find your address, if you manually enter your address; the form will fail and your application will be lost:

Apply for a garage on a housing estate

Before you start your application

To hold a licence you must be 17 years of age or older.

Insurance cover

Having the correct insurance ensures that, in the event of an accident, you, your workers, customers, and other members of the public are covered.

You must have public liability insurance covering a minimum of £5 million throughout the licensed period before you start trading.

If you are employing someone to work for you, you must also have Employers Liability Insurance.

This insurance should cost under £150 per annum and is included in the membership fee of the National Market Traders Federation or can be obtained through an insurance broker.

Additional requirements to sell food

To sell food you need to register with us as a food business. It is free to register, and your registration cannot be refused. You should register at least 28 days before trading. If you are preparing, cooking, or storing food at another location this must also be registered with the local authority where it is located.

Parking

Parking Permits can only be issued to vehicles registered in the name of the Licensee and will be withdrawn if:

• the licence holder does not trade for a period of four weeks or more
• the vehicle has unpaid parking fines 
• the vehicle and/or users causes complaints from residents 

Market traders: parking in a designated market trader bays. Each bay has a sign that is abbreviated with MKT or T for Market Traders.

Visit Trade permits (formerly parking permissions) to apply for a parking permit (builders, traders and other service providers engaged in work for a local resident or business who require on-street parking for their vehicle are eligible to apply).

If you have any further inquires about parking permits please call the Contact Centre: 020 7974 4444.

We offer free parking permits for up to 4 trading days. Please contact the Markets team to request your trial permit.

Apply to trade on a street market

All our markets are different in character and style so before you apply, visit Camden’s Street Markets for more information about each market to help choose the best location for your business.  

The fees and charges were updated on the 1st April 2024, please see what fees applies to your application.

Hot Food market stalls

How to get a temporary registration card that will allow you to apply for a daily trading licence?

Steps below:

1. If you wish to apply for a Temporary Registration to sell any commodity including hot food, please complete the application form using the link below.  Please note this Registration is not a Licence, but means you are able to apply for a daily licence to be issued at any of our street markets. There is no guarantee that a pitch will be available for you to trade.

Click to apply for apply for a temporary registration 

Note: At the end of your application you will be asked to pay a non-refundable administration fee of £70.45.

2. Once you have received your Temporary Registration please contact the Duty Retail Market Officer (contact details are provided in your grant email) who is responsible for agreeing your menu for the market you are interested in and discuss pitch availability.  

If a pitch is available for the commodities agreed you will be asked to provide updated information including: 

• Valid passport
• A recent passport photograph
• Proof of National Insurance Number (e.g., photo of National Insurance card)
• Proof of current address dated within the past 3 months. We accept any of the following:
  • Utility bill (gas, electricity, water or landline telephone)
  • Council tax bill
  • Bank/ Building Society statement

Additional for food traders only:

• Accredited food hygiene certificate (level 2) (including assistants)
• Proof that your business is registered with a local authority 
• Evidence of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)
• A valid PAT and/or Gas safety certificate for your apparatus 

Documents must be in electronic format so they can be uploaded on the form. These are gif, jpeg, png, pdf, bmp, or docx files. You will not be able to complete the application without providing all of the required documents.

3. You will then be sent a link to book and pay for the pitch for the market of interest at least a week at a time. Ensure that you have confirmed availability with the Duty Market Officer before making a payment!

4. You will receive acknowledgement via email of your payment and will receive a licence to confirm your trading for the dates requested.  You should continue to book and pay for these pitches in this way, unless advised otherwise.

5. Any licences issued will be to traders who are willing to commit to trading 6 months in advance on at least 3 to 4 days a week and bring new products or services to our markets.

6. There is high demand to sell hot food at some of our street markets and competition with other applicants is very high.  There is very limited availability for new traders to enter some markets, as once a trader has been allocated a pitch they usually remain. Our criteria is strict and for Leather Lane we are looking for a very high standard of licensee for the small number of pitches that may become available. We also look at cooking methods to make sure we minimise the negative impacts on the surrounding environment and the market operation.  

7. The pitches in our markets are mainly 3 x 2 metres and all equipment used for cooking, gas bottles and waste needs to be contained within these dimensions.  The pitches at some markets remain marked out on the ground at 4 x 2 metres, but one metre is used to create a gangway to allow shoppers to gain access to the pavement and shops, plus for you to get the rear of your stall quickly. 

Note: We cannot guarantee that any trader will remain on the same pitch all week, that is dependent on demand, but we will work to accommodate where possible. No daily booking requests for hot food licences will be accepted.

Note: If a pitch becomes available for Leather Lane all individuals holding a temporary registration card for hot food will be contacted and invited for a competitive interview.
 

Book a trading pitch

All pitches must be requested and paid for in advance, no later than 4pm of the working day (i.e. weekdays 9-4pm and Friday 9am-1pm) the day before you wish to trade. This is done via our online payment system. 

Note: Traders must calculate the fees payable for the market/ days requested using our trading fees and charges information. This must be paid in full when submitting the request.

Note: There is no guarantee you will get the market or pitch requested, as pitches are allocated in priority order. Please include the market and days you wish to trade in the ‘Message Box’ field

Note: You must have a copy of the email confirmation on the day of trading along with the Temporary Registered Trader Display Card. A valid insurance certificate must also be available to view.

If you decide not to trade once your trading documents have been issued, you can surrender your temporary registration, but the pitch trading fee will be non-transferable and non-refundable.
 

Make an online payment and book a pitch 

Apply for a kiosk/Isolated pitch 

Camden welcomes charities and volunteers to join any market for free. There are no fees if you are not offering something for sale. Fees are negotiable/not applicable for groups selling to fund activity or promote activity. please contact the Markets Team Marketapplications@camden.gov.uk. 

Note: You will be required to provide a copy of your Public Liability insurance. 

License a forecourt

This is trading on private land where the customer is on the street whilst being served, often this is where a shop owns some pavement and is renting it to another businesses or where the shop owner is running a business distinct from their shop on their own forecourt.

Red Telephone kiosk

If you are using the telephone box only the fee of £21.05 and if you are using the telephone box and an additional space the daily charge will be £29.16

Miscellaneous (Isolated) Kiosk sites

Camden's street trading team welcomes expressions of interest for new isolated pitch sites.  Once a request is received it can take up to 6 - 12 Months to obtain agreement for trading to take place.  This is due to the process that needs to be followed involving site visits and required consultation with internal and external teams.  We receive lots of requests for isolated pitch sites and sometimes more than one request for the same site, so there is no guarantee any person requesting a site will be offered the site, there may be need for a competitive interview to take place.  If a competitive interview is required we will take into account the commodities offered for sale, value for money, affordability for residents, year round service and contribution to reducing carbon emissions.  Strategies for achieving this may include the use of fair trade products, avoiding single use plastics and promotion of refillable cups and bowls amongst visitors.

If you break the rules

The Police can take action against you if you meet in larger groups. This includes breaking up illegal gatherings and issuing fines (fixed penalty notices).

You can be given a Fixed Penalty Notice of £200 for the first offence, doubling for further offences up to a maximum of £6,400. If you hold, or are involved in holding, an illegal gathering of over 30 people, the police can issue fines of £10,000.

Note: This above advice is subject to change if Government advice is amended. You will be notified of any future change.

Attendance and registering assistants

We expect street trading licence holders to make full personal use of their licence. Failure to do so may lead to your licence being revoked.

You may leave your stall in the temporary charge of an assistant who you have registered with us; this doesn't mean the licence holder has made personal use of their licence.

Note: Licensed Street Traders shall be in personal attendance at their pitch for the majority of their trading time. The majority of the time is defined as 60% of the time the pitch is in operation on each trading day. At all other times the stall may only be operated by an assistant registered with the Council.

No street trading can take place at any time unless the licence holder or a registered assistant is present on the stall.

If a licensed trader operates more than 1 trading pitch in the borough then the 60% will be equally split between the number of sites on a pro-rata basis.

For more information, please visit our Street trading licence conditions page.

If you would like to employ or register an assistant(s), please fill in the online form below and you will be asked to supply a copy of your Employers Liability Insurance.

Note: We accept one form per assistant. The application fee per assistant is £23.33.

New Assistant application

Note: All documents must be in electronic format so they can be uploaded on the form. These are: gif, jpeg, png, pdf, bmp, or docx files. You will not be able to complete the application without providing all of the required documents.

For more information and help on the Renewal process, please refer to the Renewals Guide 2022. 

The name and contact details of the data controller:
London Borough of Camden
Judd Street
London
WC1H 9JE
020 7974 4444, 

The name and contact details of the Data Protection Officer:
Andrew Maughan, Borough Solicitor
dpo@camden.gov.uk

Purpose for processing your data:
The London Borough of Camden Markets Team is responsible for managing the Council-run street markets, which includes issuing of licences to street market traders. We will collect your personal data to process permanent, temporary and assistant licence applications/ renewals and, if required, applications for variation of licence and/ or licence succession. 

Legal basis for processing:
We may process personal and special category data necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest and in exercise of official authority vested in the controller. Our legal basis for processing is defined under Article 6(1)(e) Public task and Article 9(2)(g) Public interest of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  

Categories of Personal Data
The categories of personal data we will process are:

Name, address, date of birth, contact telephone and email, details of licensee (you) and your assistant/s (if applicable), National Insurance and identity document numbers, Public Liability Insurance and required certification details

• If applying for succession or mutual transfer, the name, address and contact telephone and email details of the nominated person. 

Categories of recipients the council has or will disclose the data to
The Council does not intend to disclose the data to any other third parties. However, we undertake general data matching or data sharing in certain areas for the prevention or detection of crime. 

We will not transfer your personal data outside the EU/EEA.

How long will we keep your information?
We will keep your personal data up to seven years in line with the council’s retention schedule.

Your data subject rights
You have the right to request a copy of the information we hold about you, the right to ask us to rectify, erase or restrict processing of your data, the right to ask for data portability, the right to object to automated decision making, and if we are relying on consent the right to withdraw consent at any time.  There are some exemptions to these rights.  Please see the below websites for more information:

• London Borough of Camden 
• Information Commissioner’s Office
• To exercise these rights please use our web form

The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority
You can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with how the Council has handled your personal data. It would be helpful if you contacted us first at dpa@camden.gov.uk to see if we can resolve the problem. You can contact the ICO at casework@ico.org.uk / phone 0303 123 1113, or post to Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Giving personal data is a statutory requirement 
We are unable to process applications and issue licences without the applicant providing personal data. 

Automated decision making or profiling
We are not using automated decision making or profiling to process your personal data.