selling food from front garden

[CiderMonkey]

I was at Twickenham for a concert at the weekend and people in the surrounding streets were selling food from their front gardens. Would they have needed any kind of licence or permission for this?

[Buenchico]

Theoretically, you can't operate any sort of business from residential premises (including the garden) unless you've got planning permission for business use. (An elderly gentleman, living near to me, used to sell a few surplus vegetables, from his garden, at his front gate. There was never a problem with this until a local greengrocer complained to the council about the competition to his business. The elderly gentleman was then informed by the council that, unless he paid hundreds of pounds to apply for planning permission, his vegetable sales must cease).

If nobody bothers to enforce the planning laws (as had been the case with this man's vegetable sales for over 20 years), there's no reason why foods such as cornish pasties (in their manufacturers wrappers) or Mars bars can't be sold from people's gardens. If, however, the foods which were being sold were prepared, or directly handled, by the people selling them, then anyone involved in the sale or preparation of the foods would need to hold a food hygiene certificate (in the same way that staff in restaurants or burger vans have to).

Chris