Apply for a street trading licence
A business needs a street trading licence to place tables and chairs or display goods for sale on the pavement or within seven metres of a public road.
Use this form to apply for a new street trading licence or to renew it.
Do not use this form to apply for a pavement licence. A pavement licence allows you to place tables and chairs outside a food or drinks business for outdoor dining. This is a less expensive option than the standard tables and chairs licence. Information on the pavement licence and how to apply.
Before you start
You need to decide what type of street trading licence you need:
- A-Board – you have an A-Board or similar free-standing advertisement outside your business
- Designated site licence - you have a food cart or similar and you want to work in one of the borough’s designated sites
- Free literature distribution - you want to distribute flyers, coupons, or other literature
- Front of shop licence - you already operate a shop and want to display the same items out the front
- Private land - the land you trade in is privately owned, but your display falls within seven metres of the public highway
- Tables and chairs licence - you want to offer outdoor seating to the customers of your café or restaurant
- Temporary designated site licence - you have a food cart or similar and you want to try out a new location that has not already been designated for street trading. This is also for seasonal trade, like mangos or Christmas trees. Note: this licence is only valid for up to six months at a time.
You must pay any money you owe on your street trading account before we can give you a new licence.
You will need
- Street trading licence number (for renewals)
- When and where you want to trade
- Your company’s public liability insurance policy with cover of at least £5million
- Your company’s commercial waste transfer notes showing how you dispose of trade waste and recycling. You can get the waste transfer note from your waste carrier. We will not accept an invoice instead of a waste transfer note
- To explain where you plan to store the street trading items at night when the business is closed
- Debit or credit card, for the application fee.
If your business is not a public limited company:
• Proof of your identity (eg valid passport or driving licence)
• Proof of your address (eg bank statement, utility bill, council tax).
If your business is selling hot or prepared food:
• Your food registration or inspection report
• Your safety electricity or gas report (if applicable)
• Your raw meat commercial waste contract (if applicable).
For private land applications only:
• Written permission from the landlord or owner containing the land owner’s name, contact details, and signature.
Uploading supporting documents
We will ask you to upload some documents. For example, public liability insurance policy and commercial waste transfer note.
- Accepted file types: Word (docx), Acrobat (pdf), Excel (xlsx), Plain text (txt)
- Zip files can't be uploaded
- We also accept photos taken on phones and tablets and the following image file types - jpeg, gif, png
- There is a maximum individual file size per document of 50MB.
What happens next
We aim to review your application within 10 working days.
We will either send you an email with the licence or we will contact you to let you know what other documents we need you to upload.
We will contact you if we need more information.
This form should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.