About PubKitchens
The Founder
PubKitchens was founded by Taro Schenker, a software engineer with experience at NET-A-PORTER and END Clothing. Taro also runs KitchenSpaceRentals.com, the UK's commercial kitchen rental directory.
The idea for PubKitchens came from a pattern Taro kept seeing: food entrepreneurs struggling to find affordable kitchen space, while thousands of pub kitchens across the UK sat idle. The traditional route — negotiating directly with pub chains — is slow and bureaucratic. PubKitchens bridges that gap by connecting food operators with pubs that have kitchen space to rent.
How We Source Our Data
Every pub listed on PubKitchens is a real, verified venue. We don't fabricate listings. Our data comes from public, authoritative sources:
- Food Standards Agency (FSA)— pub names, addresses, postcodes, and food hygiene ratings. This is the same database that powers the official “scores on the doors” ratings.
- Postcodes.io — ward names, regions, and LSOA codes for area-level data. Open source, maintained by Ideal Postcodes.
- Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD 2019) — area profiles from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We reframe this data for commercial context (footfall potential, delivery demand) rather than residential deprivation.
- OpenStreetMap — pub features like beer gardens, outdoor seating, operator/brand, and opening hours. Crowd-sourced and community-maintained under the ODbL licence.
Our Model
PubKitchens is a marketplace, not a managed service. We connect food operators with pubs — we don't manage the kitchen, handle contracts, or take a cut of the rent. When we make an introduction, the pub and the operator negotiate their own terms directly.
We focus on freehouses and independent pubs first, because they can make decisions quickly without going through a parent company. This means faster matches for operators and less bureaucracy for pubs.