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spotlight focus - park
creative industries are identified as a priority growth sector in Ealing Council’s jobs and skills strategy and several initiatives are underway to support the sector to continue to grow in Park Royal and the rest of borough.
third of all food consumed by Londoners is manufactured in Park Royal.
L’AQUILA supplies Mediterranean vegetable ingredients to leading food manufacturers, foodservice, catering, wholesalers, and retail operators. The company has gone from strength to strength since it was founded in 1987 by owner Nadia Howell. It has operated from a bespoke 9,000 square foot office and warehouse in Coronation Road since 2001. Nadia said: “L’AQUILA chose to be based in Park Royal because of the excellent motorway connections serving the regions, the direct road route into central London on the A40 and having two underground stations (Park Royal and Hanger Lane) nearby. The area is also very well served with buses. That all makes deliveries and recruitment easier. The food-centric estate is also home to many of our customers.”
Park Royal is also home to a cluster of rapidly growing micro, small, and medium sized in the food manufacturing sector that are pioneering new products. This includes cookie dough products producer Doughlicious – The London Dough Co., which benefitted from Ealing Council’s Pioneer Fund in 2022 and is continuing to grow and innovate.
Kathryn Bricken is the company’s CEO and founder. “Having our factory in Park Royal has been instrumental to our success,” she said. “This strategic location has enabled us to build and maintain an exceptional team of star employees who have stayed with us for years, thanks to the convenient proximity to their homes and excellent accessibility via various train lines. This location gives us both the stability of a dedicated workforce and the creative inspiration needed to continue our mission of changing what’s possible in indulgent snacking.”
A thriving creative cluster
Park Royal supports approximately 150 creative businesses, including 3 film studios. The creative industries are identified as a priority growth sector in Ealing Council’s jobs and skills strategy and several initiatives are underway to support the sector to continue to grow in Park Royal and the rest of the borough.
Last year, Ealing Council and the Old Oak Park Royal Development Corporation secured Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) status for the area. This designation has supported over 40 local creative businesses to trade locally and seen 5 businesses benefit from a dedicated business loans fund.
This includes Park Royal Open Workshop, or POW, which was recently announced as ‘Creative Business of the Year’ in the borough’s London Living Wage Awards 2025.
POW is a not-for-profit, open-access workshop and makerspace, offering 5000sqft of professional woodworking and metalworking machines, CNC fabrication, laser cutting, and digital tech, for makers to learn and create.
Alex Rincon is POW’s founder. He told us: “POW began as a response to the significant challenges faced by artists, designers, and makers in the creative industry. For example, less than 20% of makers come from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and only 1.2% of revenue-generating artists are female. POW houses professional-grade tools that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive.
“Last year we doubled our revenue every quarter, and by the end of April we will have doubled our floorspace. The CEZ really put Park Royal on the map as a place for creatives and makers who would otherwise have been pushed out of central London. We’re super positive about our future here.”
Sustainable practices
A growing ecosystem of Park Royalbased businesses are leading the way in sustainable practices. This includes Wellworking, which took home the ‘Sustainable Business of the Year’ prize in Ealing’s London Living Wage Awards 2025.
The judges were impressed by the tailored approach being taken by Wellworking to help both customers and staff make more sustainable choices.
“It’s an exciting recognition of our ongoing work as a Certified B Corp, the successful launch of our Re-lived furniture offer, and the start of our Greener Choice accreditation on our website, Wellworking.co.uk, which allows our clients to make more informed sustainable choices when it comes to buying the best office furniture for their offices and home offices”, added Luke.
Alongside this, the Park Royal Net Zero Food Systems, bringing together Brunel, West London Business, and Harper Adams University, are supporting Park Royal businesses to transition to net-zero food supply systems.