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What Licence Do I Need for a Vintage Coffee Trike on National Trust Land?

by Louise

Navy blue vintage three-wheeled coffee trike on a National Trust parkland path

Navy blue vintage three-wheeled coffee trike on a National Trust parkland path

I’m looking to operate a small vintage style trike selling tea, coffee, bottled soft drinks and bought in (in packaging) biscuits, flapjacks chocolate crisps etc.

Can you please tell me the type of Licence I might need? The land is National Trust and permissions are procisionally in place for the pitch usage.

A sole trader employing no staff and liability insurance and risk assessments have been obtained/prepared.

Thanks very much

Louise

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Aug 27, 2026
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by: MobCater

You have actually done most of the hard thinking already, Louise, so let me put your mind at rest on the licence side.

The one thing you must do, whatever you sell, is register as a food business with your local council. It is free, they cannot turn you down, and you need to do it at least 28 days before you start trading. Register with the council where your business is based, which for a mobile unit is usually your home address, and that single registration covers you wherever you trade. Even though you are only serving hot drinks, soft drinks and snacks that stay sealed in their own packaging, tea and coffee still count as a food business, so this step applies to you.

Now the bit people get tangled up in. A council street trading licence, or consent, only applies to the public highway and to land the council itself controls. Your pitch is on National Trust land, which is private, so as a rule you do not need a street trading licence for it. What governs the pitch is the Trust's own permission, the concession or licence agreement you are provisionally sorting out. Get that in writing before you commit to anything. I would still make one phone call to the licensing team at the local council and ask them to confirm in writing that they do not treat National Trust land as a "street" for consent purposes, because a handful of councils define it more widely than you would expect. Five minutes on the phone saves a lot of worry later.

Because everything you are selling is either a drink or pre-packaged by the manufacturer, your hygiene burden is light. Keep the bought-in biscuits and crisps in their original wrappers with the labels intact and you sidestep the labelling headache that catches people who repackage food themselves. A Level 2 food hygiene certificate is cheap, done online in a couple of hours, and it is the first thing the EHO tends to ask about. If your urn runs on propane rather than electric, get the gas side checked and certificated by a registered engineer, though a battery or mains urn keeps things simpler on a trike.

You already have your public liability cover and your risk assessments, which is exactly what the Trust will want to see, so you are further along than most people who write to me.

Hope that helps

David

Disclaimer: This is general advice for UK mobile catering. Licensing rules vary between councils, so always check with your local authority before you start trading.

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