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 provides licences for 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.

We also welcome 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. If you are interested, please contact the Markets Team at Marketapplications@camden.gov.uk.

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

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.

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 1 April 2025. Check what fees apply to your application. We are proposing changes to our street trading licence fees from 1 April 2025. 

How to start trading 

You will need a temporary registration card to apply for a daily trading licence. This will allow you to sell any commodity including hot food. You can apply for a temporary licence by using our online form. 

This registration is not a licence, but it means you will be 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. 

At the end of your application, you will be asked to pay a non-refundable administration fee of £72.64. 

Renew or apply for a temporary licence

What to do once you’ve received your temporary licence registration  

After receiving your Temporary Registration, contact the Duty Retail Market Officer. Contact details are in your grant email. They will help you agree on your menu for the market you're interested in and discuss pitch availability. 

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

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. 

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. 

Hot food pitches 

Hot food pitches at some of our street markets, especially Leather Lane, are in high demand and competition is strong. Spaces rarely open up, as traders tend to stay long-term. We have strict criteria and are looking for top-quality licensees. We also consider cooking methods to reduce impact on the environment and market operations.  

Information on pitches 

Most market pitches are 3 x 2 metres, and all your equipment, gas bottles, and waste must fit within this space. Some pitches are marked as 4 x 2 metres, but one metre is reserved as a walkway to keep access clear for shoppers and allow you to reach the back of your stall quickly. 

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

• a valid passport 
• a recent passport photograph 
• proof of National Insurance Number (e.g. a 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 or bank or 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.

How to 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 9am to 4pm and Friday 9am to 1pm) the day before you wish to trade. This is done via our online payment system.  

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

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

We also cannot guarantee that any trader will remain on the same pitch all week, as that’s dependent on demand, but we will work to accommodate where possible. We cannot accept daily booking requests for hot food licences.  

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

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 a payment and book a pitch using our secure payment service.

Forecourt licences 

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

Red Telephone kiosk 

If you are only using the telephone box, the fee is £21.68 and if you are using the telephone box and an additional space the fee is £30.03. 

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 6 to 12 months to gain approval due to the required process, which includes site visits and consultation with both internal and external teams. 

We receive many requests for isolated pitches, and sometimes multiple requests for the same location. This means there is no guarantee that a site will be offered to the person making the request. In some cases, a competitive interview may be required. 

If interviews are necessary, we will consider: 

• commodities offered for sale 
• value for money and affordability for residents 
• year-round service 
• contribution to reducing carbon emissions 

Examples of sustainable practices we encourage include using fair trade products, avoiding single-use plastics, and promoting refillable cups and bowls. 

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.

Add a new assistant application or renew their al

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.

You can apply to renew now. The deadline to apply is 31 March. 

Who can apply 

You can apply to renew your permanent street trading licence if your current licence ends on 31 March. 

How to apply 

You can apply to renew your licence by using our online form. 

You will need 

Before you start, have electronic copies of these documents: 

• a copy of your passport 
• your right to work in the UK permit, if you hold a non-UK passport 
• a recent passport sized photograph 
• poof of your National Insurance Number, for example a photo of your National Insurance card 
• proof of current address dated within the past 3 months 
• a copy of your Public Liability Insurance policy of £5 million minimum  
• a copy of your Employer Liability Insurance policy, if you are employing registered assistants 

If you are a food trader who uses gas or electric appliances, you will also need: 

• a valid gas safe certificate  
• a valid PAT certificate 

All food traders must also supply their most recent level 2 food hygiene certificate. 

Read our street trading licence renewal guidance for more information on applying for a renewal. 

Start now 

Apply to renew your permanent street trading licence

If you are: 

• a holder of a temporary registration, you can renew your temporary licence here  
• employing staff, you will need to submit an application for each assistant      
• a holder of both a temporary registration and permanent street trading licence, two applications must be submitted for each type of trading document 

Renewal conditions

The renewal period is extremely busy and there are strict conditions on renewal. 

Your licence may not be renewed if: 

• you have not been compliant to our street trading terms and conditions  
• you have not used your pitch often enough with your current licence 
• you have not kept up payment for your street trading charges 

It may also be refused if you are in breach of any of the grounds set out in the London Local Authorities Act 1990 (as amended). This includes: 

(6) Subject to subsection (8) below the council may refuse an application on any of the following grounds: 

(a) that there are enough traders trading in the street or in any street adjoining the street in respect of which the application is made in the goods in which the applicant desires to trade; 

(b) that the applicant is on account of misconduct or for any other sufficient reason unsuitable to hold the licence; (c) that the applicant is an individual who has without reasonable excuse failed personally to avail himself fully of a previous street trading licence;  

(d) that the applicant has at any time been granted a street trading licence by the borough council which was revoked or could have been revoked on the grounds that he had refused or neglected to pay fees or other charges due to them in respect of the licence 

(e) that the applicant has failed to provide or to identify suitable or adequate premises for the storage of any receptacles or perishable goods in which he proposes to trade when street trading is not taking place 

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.