In a relatively short space of time food halls have grown from what was once a niche sector predominantly the preserve of a few major cities into a phenomenon that can be found in towns and cities the length and breadth of the country. Recent figures from The UK Multi-Vendor Operator Annual Report 2026, produced by me&u in collaboration with hospitality consultancy Next Phase, puts the total number of food markets in the UK at 149, up from 114 the previous year. The sector is showing no signs of decelerating either, with a further 65 sites in the pipeline that would push the figure easily beyond the 200 mark.
Indeed, the market for food halls has experienced consistent growth over the past few years, according to Simon Anderson, Next Phase co-founder and former Market Halls co-founder. Under Anderson, Market Halls launched in Fulham in 2018 and expanded into Victoria the following year before taking on the huge former BHS department store near Oxford Circus.
Anderson says that the 149 figure doesn’t give the whole picture, and that there are around 100 actual food halls in the UK with more traditional food markets or urban container sites accounting for the rest. What is more significant, he believes, is the combined scale of the sector, and says that by his rough calculations food halls occupy some 1.5m sq ft of hospitality space. “That is fairly significant,” he says.
In an eating out sector that is struggling with soaring costs, whether they be staffing, business rates or energy bills, the food hall sector looks then to be very resilient. Yet it wasn’t always the case. Immediately after the Covid pandemic the sector, which had only really emerged a few years previously, looked to have stalled with closures and plans for new openings scrapped as food halls struggled to regain their footing.
“There was a nervousness around the operators after Covid,” Anderson says. “If you’re taking on a food hall project it’s got a massive rent and rates bill and there’s a huge investment required to build it. The sector was affected more by Covid whereas restaurant businesses were able to move a bit quicker during the recovery.”
A nurturing economic climate
If the pandemic proved to be more of a challenge to the food hall sector than for others, the current economic climate and trends in the market have tipped the balance of power in its favour. The rising cost of doing business, twinned with a fall in the discretionary income of diners that has been eroded away by high inflation, has meant that food halls - whether for an operator or a customer - have never been a more appetising prospect.
“In terms of the operating model, the [current] economy benefits it in two ways,” says Anderson. “The first is the operational aspect - there’s a really low barrier to entry [for vendors] to come in. All they need to do is provide the kit and start trading. It can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to open a restaurant but less than £10,000 to open a kitchen in a food hall.”
The other benefit, he says, is that food halls suit these changing times when customers are reining in their spending. “One thing I love about the sector is that a week before pay day people still want to go out. With a food hall they don’t have to worry about splitting the bill or if they are a family, they can share dishes. It’s suited to the needs of people in today’s economy.”
If the pandemic proved to be more of a challenge to the food hall sector than for others, the current economic climate and trends in the market have tipped the balance of power in its favour
Olivia Reid, a former director of food and beverage at food hall brand Sessions, which until recently operated Shelter Hall in Brighton and a smaller food hall in Islington, and now a consultant at Blackbirdbox Consultancy, whose clients include Sessions and Market Halls, also believes the food hall model is ripe for these times.
“In principle, a food hall should be more effective in this current climate because of the shared revenue,” she says, describing the shared risk and revenue model of most food hall operations as a “real game changer”. “If you’re sharing the revenue you’re also sharing the overheads and that should work better because you’re diluting the risk.
“There were huge risks in the early days for operators converting large spaces but there were pretty good deals to be had based on the scale of the building that nobody could actually fill. Then came the awareness that there was value to this and that probably slightly diminished some of the opportunities but now there are more partnerships and more landlord, developer and local authority involvement that lowers the risk factor.”
The regeneration game
Both Reid and Anderson say that this increased level of cooperation between stakeholders and the involvement of local authorities has played, and will continue to play, a pivotal role in the growth of the sector. Council-funded regeneration projects are taking place across the country and food halls are often regarded not only as a way of breathing new life back into areas but as being a gateway for adjacent sectors such as competitive socialising, music and entertainment to join them.
Anderson points to projects such as The Cotton Works, a new 16-acre urban neighbourhood in Wigan that is the largest brownfield site in the North West under single ownership. The site, which encompasses three disused mills, already hosts Feast at the Mills, a weekend destination of street food and live music, but that is just the beginning of the plans for the site. Coming on stream later will be a new 14,500sq ft food hall with seven independent food traders, and The Three Mills Beer & Ale House.
Food hall Hatters, which has just opened in the Manchester suburb of Denton, is another example. Joining an area once famous for its hat production but which was “down on its luck”, according to Anderson, Hatters is a key pillar of Denton’s regeneration. “It will have a massive impact on the area,” he says. “Three thousand people turned up on the opening weekend. It fulfils a role that is more than just pure hospitality. [These places] are working their way into a fabric of regeneration that we are seeing across the country.”
A risk of saturation?
Against such a background of optimism, however, there are reasons to be cautious. “While the growth of food halls is undoubtedly a beacon of hope, we shouldn’t ignore the risks,” says Reid, who warns of the danger of creating ‘glorified food courts’ - spaces she describes as feeling cold, transactional, and devoid of genuine engagement.
As with all parts of hospitality, there are also winners and losers, she says. “Yes, there is growth, but to be absolutely frank there is also struggling going on in the sector. It’s not all rosy. Not every food hall thrives and lives up to its expectations.”
There is also the question over how many food halls a city can sustain and whether some are already reaching saturation point. Manchester is home to around 10 food halls, and more are on their way, including Edinburgh Street Food, which is opening in the city this summer, and Market Place which will open in the first quarter of next year.
“Manchester is a living experiment in market saturation,” says Anderson. “There is still growth in interesting spaces.”
Reid says she has been involved in two Manchester food hall projects that never came to fruition because of the risk of saturation. “Manchester is interesting because it has quite a small city centre. We’ve seen movement away from certain areas and businesses have lost trade when new places have opened.”
Yes, there is growth, but there is also struggling going on in the sector. Not every food hall thrives and lives up to its expectations
Olivia Reid
As to the dangers of saturation, Reid says it is too early to really tell. “We won’t really know until five years’ time. It’s still early days for the sector, which only really kicked off in 2016 and 2017 so we’re only 10 years in to look at what has lasted and what hasn’t.”
So far, the fear of saturation doesn’t appear to be a turn-off for operators. Anderson points to Birmingham which a few years back didn’t have any food halls, but which now has them in areas including Digbeth (Alfred Works, the new food hall from hospitality group Blend Family), the Jewellery Quarter (St Paul’s Market), and the Business District (Society Birmingham) among others.
“A town like Birmingham with a population of one million people could handle a significant number of food halls, it’s about finding that level,” says Anderson. “There is always the fear of saturation, but the question is ‘will people become tired of the concept or are there too many of them?’. If they play to the strengths of what they do, have an interesting line up and are affordable then in many towns they are filling the gaps in hospitality.”
Like Blend Family, Market Place and northern operator STACK, Freight Island is another food hall brand that is pushing ahead with expansion. The brand, which started off in Manchester, will next month open a 1,000-capacity venue in Brixton and has spoken of its ambitions to expand into other cities, citing the north of England and the Midlands as key areas. Further openings in Leeds and Sheffield are expected in the coming years.
Evolving while retaining the soul
In such a competitive landscape as hospitality and with greater expansion on the cards it is likely that not every new project will be a success. “The difficulty is that like in casual dining you make something work and then duplicate it, and that often doesn’t work,” warns Reid. “Food halls are location-based, community-based, content-based - no one food hall will fit everywhere. Time Out Market proves that with its portfolio. That’s where the gaps are in the discussion.”
Reid says the food hall model has already evolved from in the early days, when vendors were often rotated more frequently, and will have to continue to evolve to keep pace with the sector.
“Food halls are not rotating at the volume we experienced in early days where there was a lot of focus around creating fast opportunities and tapping into trends every 12 months and doing kitchens. You won’t find that anymore because the risk is too much for everybody. Instead, you’re going to see more permanency in the kitchen structures.”
Because of this, operators will have to work harder on ensuring they remain unique compared to the high street and offering variety that makes the best food halls thrive, she adds. “The temptation is to just look at the players with the best revenue, but it’s not about that. It is about offering access, quality and choice. Naturally there will be some players with lower revenues but it’s about giving them the same value and not falling into any assumption that you need to dilute the offer to meet the revenue.
Food halls fulfil a role that is more than just pure hospitality. They are working their way into a fabric of regeneration that we are seeing across the country
Simon Anderson
“Are you making a commercial decision that will override your identity? Or are you making a decision that strengthens your identity?”
Different formats that appeal to different segments of the market or different areas are also likely to become more commonplace. The just-opened AQ food hall in Digbeth, for example, is Birmingham’s first completely halal street food market. Smaller models are also being experimented with, particularly in smaller towns but not exclusively.
“The slightly smaller model does actually work,” says Reid, who was behind the failed Sessions mini food hall in Islington. “Islington Sessions was about trying to create a high street version of a food hall. We failed because it was too small and not the right concept, but Arcade followed with a similar model (in Centre Point) that they’ve made work.”
Arcade will follow this up later this year with the opening of a site in a former TGI Fridays in Covent Garden.
As for the future of the sector, both Anderson and Reid believe there will be more acquisitions such as Market Halls purchase of Shelter Halls last year as the sector matures. In terms of growth, Reid believes there is room for the bigger players to continue to expand organically up to around 10 sites. “I wouldn’t see them going much over that.”
Reid also believes there should be better communication between food hall businesses to ensure the customer is being best served. “They should be communicating more so they are not duplicating each other and stepping on each other’s toes,” she says.
“There should be more of a nurturing aspect to it. It is a commercial business I know, but at the same time there’s no point having two entities fighting for the same audience if there’s isn’t enough demand.”
