Street trading - guidance and policy

Traders who have permission to trade from private land need not apply for street trading consent.

If food is to be sold, all applicants must register their business with the Council’s Food Safety Team. This also includes traders on private land.

People wishing to trade south of Kingsway along the Seafront should check the available letting opportunities advertised on the Trading on the Seafront page. Applicants wishing to trade in the Parks in the Brighton and Hove area should contact the Events Team.

Street trading consents normally last for 12 months and will expire at the end of each trading year (31 March). Consents can be renewed, subject to the correct documentation and fee being submitted, and subject to consent from the Police.

Street Trading Consents can be paid for in full or by quarterly payments. If consent is granted mid-quarter, a pro rata fee will be calculated for the remainder of the quarter, and normal quarterly payments can resume thereafter.

Trading is only allowed at these sites

Zone A Static Sites

• Clarence Square (50 square feet) cooking or heating is permitted
• Marlborough Street (50 square feet) cooking or heating is prohibited
• Crown Street (50 square feet) cooking or heating is prohibited
• Castle Street (50 square feet) cooking or heating is prohibited
• Dean Street (50 square feet) cooking or heating is prohibited

Zone B Mobile Street Trading

Trading from Mobile Stalls is not permitted in the town centre. Consent can be given for Mobile Street Trading in the outskirts of Brighton & Hove (Zone B). See the separate map for more information.

If all pitches within Zone A are occupied, applicants can join a waiting list by submitting an application form. They will be notified once a pitch becomes available. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure contact details are kept up to date.

Articles to be sold by the trader must be clearly detailed on the application form. Words such as ‘miscellaneous’ and ‘brick-a-brack’ etc will not be accepted.

New applications

New applications should be made by submitting an application form only. Prospective traders will be vetted by the Police and if approval is given, further documents and payment will be requested. Further documents include a passport-sized photograph and an up-to-date public liability insurance certificate. Consents cannot be issued without submission of these documents, and consents will only be issued once payment is made.

When requested, public liability insurance must be at least 3rd party cover and must be in the Applicant’s name.

Mobile street traders may only operate one vehicle under one consent. Any additional vehicles must be registered under a separate consent.

Traders are required to also read the Street Trading Policy & Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982: Standard Conditions for Street Trading. Please see separate documentation.

Council’s Parks and Gardens are not designated areas for street trading purposes and it is not permitted to trade or utilise these areas as part of your trading set-up, without the expressed written consent of the Council/City Parks.

Traders must ensure the vehicle is parked in accordance to the local traffic regulation orders or you may be issued with a Penalty Charge Notice.

Streets south of Vale Road, Portslade, along Portland Road, Sackville Road, Church Road, Western Road, Montpelier Road, Chatham Place, Viaduct Street, Upper Lewes Road, then southwards down Lewes Road, Albion Street and Grand Parade before heading East along Edward Street, Eastern Road and finishing in Arundel Road shall be prohibited streets.

This is with the exception of Kingsway, Kings Road and Seafront, Castle Street, Clarence Square, Crown Street, Dean Street, Marlborough Street, Western Road, Upper Gardner Street, Bartholomew Square, George Street Hove, New Road, Black Lion Street, Jubilee Street, East Street, Duke Street, and Market Street which shall be designated consent streets.

Streets North of Vale Road Portslade and along Portland Road, Sackville Road, Church Road, Western Road, Montpelier Road, Chatham Place, Viaduct Street, Upper Lewes Road, then southwards down Lewes Road, Albion Street and Grand Parade before heading East along Edward Street, Eastern Road and finishing in Arundel Road shall also be consent streets.

Streets within 1 mile radius from the new Falmer Community Stadium will be prohibited.

The council’s parks and gardens will be undesignated.

Clarification - Times of trading

Upper Gardner Street, 7am to 5pm

City Centre, 8am to 6pm

Zone B, 8am to 6pm. There may be special dispensation to depart from these times upon application in individual cases.

A waiting list will be administered where sites or types of street trading are oversubscribed.

There will be no transfer of consents, no joint consents, preference will be given to local residents and consents will be issued not exceeding 12 months.

Consent holders shall be fit and proper, the activity will cause no danger, obstruction, nuisance or annoyance to people in the vicinity and will leave 2m unobstructed footway.

Preference will be given to existing traders at existing sites at renewal.

Traders will ensure suitable refuse storage and remove refuse at the end of trading.

Traders will wear identity badges issued by the Council.

Traders will take reasonable fire safety measures.

Consent will only be issued following receipt of appropriate fee. Fees shall be payable quarterly.

If the site is temporarily unavailable, it will be relocated to a nearby site or suspended and a proportion of the fee remitted.

Council’s Parks and Gardens are not designated areas for street trading purposes and it is not permitted to trade or utilise these areas as part of your trading set-up, without the expressed written consent of the Council/City Parks.

Traders must ensure the vehicle is parked in accordance to the local traffic regulation orders or you may be issued with a Penalty Charge Notice.

Local Government - Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1982 - Standard conditions for street trading

A. The consent may not be transferred, and the Trader shall not permit any person to exercise the consent in his/her absence unless that person is employed by the consent holder and is at least seventeen years of age. The consent holder shall not employ more than two persons at any one time to exercise the consent in the absence of the holder and any contravention of the standard conditions forming part of the consent by these persons shall be deemed to have been committed by the consent holder.

B. The Trader shall not stand or use any stall, barrow, basket, vehicle or other receptacle in any street except those specified in the consent. Such trading receptacle, including vehicle shall be removed from the trading site at the end of each trading day.

C. The Trader shall not sell, expose or offer for sale any articles on days or at times other than those specified in the consent.

D. The Trader shall not place, store or sell, expose or offer for sale any article outside the trading area marked out at the specified site, with the exception of Upper Gardner Street where traders can extend to an adjacent marked trading area when it is unoccupied.

E. The Trader shall always whilst trading provide a suitable receptacle for rubbish and litter and remove the rubbish and litter from the site at the end of each day's trading. Such rubbish and litter is not to be placed in municipal litter bins

F. The Trader shall operate in a manner which causes no nuisance, obstruction or danger to the Council or to the general public.

G. The Trader shall at all times whilst trading wear in a prominent position an identity badge provided by the Council. In addition, for town centre street trading consents, the consent, or copy thereof, shall be displayed on the stall/mobile vehicle.

H. The Trader shall be insured against any claim in respect of third-party liability whilst trading under a consent. No consent will be issued until a current policy has been produced to the Director of Environment and the Trader shall produce evidence of such insurance to an authorised officer of the Council within seven days of the officer's request.

I. Where there is a potential ignition source present including cooking facilities, a 2kg dry powder extinguisher which complies with the standards set out in BS 5423: 1987 must be provided.

J. Where hot fat cooking facilities are provided a fire blanket should be provided and so positioned as to allow the blanket to be withdrawn easily and quickly.

K. Streets within 1 mile from Falmer Community Stadium shall be prohibited streets.

L. The Trader shall be prohibited from trading on double yellow lines.

M. The Trader shall be prohibited from trading in residential and shared pay display parking bays.

N. The Trader shall be permitted to trade from pay and display parking bays providing they abide by any specified maximum waiting times and display a valid ticket for that bay.

Guidelines on the relevance of convictions

The general principles are:

1. Each case will be decided on its own merits.
2. A person with a current conviction for serious crime need not be permanently barred from registration but should be expected to remain free of conviction for 3 to 5 years, according to the circumstances, before an application is entertained. Some discretion may be appropriate if the offence is isolated and there are mitigating circumstances. However, the overriding consideration should be the protection of the public.
3. The following examples afford a general guide on the action to be taken where convictions are admitted.

Offences involving violence

It is imperative that applicants with convictions for offences involving violence are considered carefully. When applicants have convictions for causing grievous bodily harm, wounding or assault, or even more serious offences involving violence, at least five years should elapse before an application is considered.

Drug related offences

An isolated conviction for a drug offence, whether for unlawful possession only or involving the supply of controlled drugs, need not necessarily debar a candidate from registration, provided the applicant has at least three years free of convictions or five years since detoxification if he/she was an addict.

Indecency offences

Applicants with recent indecency offences would normally be debarred.

Dishonesty

Convictions for isolated minor offences should not debar an applicant, but in cases involving serious theft or fraud at least three years should elapse before an application is considered. When offences of dishonesty have been accompanied by violence, it is suggested that at least five years should elapse before registration.

These fees are applicable from 1 April 2026. 

Zone A

Zone B   

Other types of sellers

• street artists - £39 per month
• hot chestnut sellers - £39 per month
• small street market - £390 per occasion
• farmers market - £270 per stall per year 

Where stated above, you can pay fees in 4 instalments. These are due on 1 April, 1 July, 1 October and 1 January of each year.