Food stall in Chiswick High Road faces opposition to renewing its licence

Healthy Bite stall, Chiswick High Road

Cllr Joanna Biddolph says having a street stall selling food is unfair to businesses which have to pay rent and rates

The Healthy Bite food stall on Chiswick High Road is facing opposition to renewing its licence to trade from a local business and Cllr Joanna Biddolph.

The food stall has had a licence to trade since 2019 but the objector says:

‘I feel it is quite unfair that this food stall operates during Monday to Friday in the lunch hours, and would appreciate if the council would limit their hours to the weekend just like all the rest of the markets that are currently operating. As brick and mortar shops we deserve to be heard’.

The identity of the business making the objection is redacted in the Licencing Panel’s agenda for the licence renewal hearing, even though they are a competitor, but their comments are reiterated by Cllr Biddolph, who represents the Chiswick Gunnersbury ward where the stall is situated.

They argue that unlike fixed premises, street traders benefit from significantly reduced overheads (including rent, business rates, and utilities), creating an uneven and inequitable trading environment.

Renewing their licence would undermine established businesses that make long-term financial commitments to the high street, they say.

Healthy Bite stall, Chiswick High Road

Healthy Bite, adjacent to 253 Chiswick High Road, sells falafel, vegetable, chicken and halloumi wraps, rice with vegetables, salads, soups, fresh juices, and soft drinks.

The food businesses within a few hundred yards on either side of them which sell takeaway meals at lunchtime are mostly multinational companies unlikely to be threatened by a street vendor: Subway, Pret a Manger, Zizzi, Gail’s, Ole & Steen, Chipotle and Five Guys.

The only two small companies: Pasta Evangelists (14 outlets in the UK) and SO Noodle (three branches in London) are specialist food outlets which sell very different food to Healthy Bite.

The stallholders will go before Hounslow’s Licensing Panel to argue their case for a renewal on Tuesday 23 June.