Following a council vote on Tuesday night (17 June), Bite Back has welcomed Kingston Council's bold new policy banning junk food advertising across its public estate, marking another significant milestone in the fight to create healthier food environments for children.

The new restriction is a major win for young people's health and a direct response to growing calls for action to combat commercial pressures from big food businesses on children.

18-year-old Oli, a Bite Back youth campaigner from Surrey who recently attended a council policy meeting, said: "I hang out regularly in Kingston — meeting mates, grabbing food and going shopping.

"It's a spot where young people go to study or chill, but the junk food ads? They're everywhere. I've honestly been shocked by how intense it is. It feels like a full-on bombardment of unhealthy food marketing - you are just trying to go about your day, and boom, there's another ad telling you to grab junk food. You can't escape it.

"That's why this move by Kingston Council is such a big deal. It's a proper turning point. For once, a place I go to all the time is saying: we care more about young people's health, and we are prepared to take action. That gives me real hope that other councils will follow suit."

Bite Back has long campaigned for the removal of high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) advertising from public spaces, citing its direct link to health-related illness.

Currently, over a third of 10/11-year-olds leave primary school at risk of food related ill health in their future, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease — in part due to a constant exposure to unhealthy food marketing.

The new Kingston policy follows similar action by other councils, including Bedford most recently.

This reflects a growing recognition that the advertising environment contributes directly to health inequalities.

In areas with higher deprivation, junk food ads appear up to six times more often than in wealthier neighbourhoods, according to the study.

In April this year, Bite Back - backed by Impact on Urban Health - secured billboards across London to block junk food adverts.

The charity placed 365 billboards - one for each day of the year - in high-traffic areas across the capital's Lambeth and Southwark boroughs, including London Bridge Station, with one clear message: "We've bought this ad space so the junk food giants couldn't – we're giving kids a commercial break."

While Kingston's move is bold, Bite Back highlights that local councils cannot act alone. The government must introduce national regulations to protect children on all forms of outdoor advertising — including private spaces not controlled by councils.

Transport for London's (TfL) policy has already demonstrated that such policies can succeed with no loss to advertising revenue.

Bite Back pointed to TfL's experience as proof that healthier advertising environments are possible without financial trade-offs.

New research from Bite Back and the University of Liverpool further underscores this need.

The study, which analysed 859 ads in London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle, found that 57% of food and drink ads were for HFSS products, and these were more common in deprived areas — compounding inequality.

Following the Mayor of London's HFSS advertising ban on the TfL network in 2019, Southwark introduced its own local policy.

As a result, it now has the lowest rate of unhealthy food advertising among the cities studied, with just 38% of food adverts promoting HFSS products, compared to 77% in Newcastle.

Additionally, Bite Back's analysis of ad spend data showed that in 2024, food and drink companies spent over £400 million on street advertising. The top 10 spenders included McDonald's, PepsiCo, KFC, Coca-Cola, Mars, Mondelez and Red Bull.

Bite Back is a youth led movement campaigning for changes to the way unhealthy foods are made, marketed and sold, especially to children.