Hospitality, food & drink

West London: Catering for the world

West London is the ideal place to set up a UK-based food business.  For 80 years West London has been a magnet for businesses in the food and drink sector. On the doorstep of central London and with excellent transport links to the UK and Europe, West London is the first choice home of the food and drink industry in the UK.

The first phase of growth in this sector was fuelled by businesses locating in West London as a convenient area to feed the booming restaurants, hotels and shops of a growing London.

The rise of Heathrow kick-started the second boom in this industry as air travel became more readily available and airline catering companies moved into the area to service the rise in passengers.

More recently the growing ethnic food cluster that has developed around Southall with world famous brand Noon Products at its core.  This has further cemented West London’s reputation as the home of food and drink in the UK.

Light Bites

The second largest manufacturing sector in London is food and drink.  North-West London is home to:

• McVitie’s in Harlesden – the biggest biscuit factory in Europe – produces 75,000 tonnes a year
• Greencore Group in Park Royal prepares 1 million sandwiches a month
• Noon Products in Southall produces 150,000 ready meals a day and has an annual turnover of £90 million a year
• Park Royal Industrial Estate where 140+ food industry businesses employ 6000+ people

• 14,500 employed in the food and drink sector in North-West London - ten percent of all jobs in London are linked to the food and drink sector
• Large available pool of talent at all levels
• The number of people employed in the food and drink sector has increased by 30% since 1995
• Strong training opportunities exist for the food and drink sectors through West London’s five Further Education Colleges and three universities
• The University of West London is a world leader in food technology research

• 250+ food and drink establishments in West London
• 6000 restaurants in London
• 5700 food and drink outlets in London
• Eating out in London contributes £8 billion+ per annum to the economy
• 20 million people are within a 90 minute drive of West London
• 126 million people live within one day by road freight of London