Commercial kitchen space in London?

November 15, 2013 10:58 AM

I am helping a friend to expand her London based bar snack business and seek commercial kitchen space to rent in London.

This listings site has been some help but I would like to shop around a bit and am not having much luck finding other premises similar to those advertised on the linked website. Does anyone here have any experience with this IN THE UK? It'd be great to have more to choose from.

As we run funny hours (5am - noon kitchen time) we're looking for somewhere close to home. Catchment area is Brixton, Kennington/Oval, Camberwell, Peckham. Our requirements are: a parking space, 24hr refrigerated storage, basic equipment - ovens, work surface, storage. Fryers and mixers a bonus.

posted by fray to Food & Drink (3 answers total)

Explored these options in the past. Here are your options:

1. Community Colleges. May sound strange, but community colleges (and some schools and sixth forms) in England have excellent kitchen facilities they are trying to rent out, or would rent out if the opportunity was available.

2. Rent out a warehouse unit and build out a kitchen with assembly line.

3. Custom Manufacturer. In this scenario, you are paying a manufacturer who will make a specified number of items for you.

You may find that custom manufacturing is the most cost-effective and least time-consuming of the three options.
posted by parmanparman at 11:12 AM on November 15, 2013

No UK specific experience here, but do you need to have the kitchen all to yourself? Maybe it would be possible to share a space with an existing café/restaurant/snack bar or something along those lines in your neighborhood.
posted by travelwithcats at 12:02 PM on November 15, 2013

Response by poster: Hi both, thanks for the advice. We've found ourselves a shared kitchen unit and it's all go!
posted by fray at 9:54 AM on November 24, 2013