Meatly Moves to North Acton to Start Production in 2027

A company that grows chicken meat from cells, for pet food, has moved to North Acton. Meatly has taken space at Grapht Works, Imperial College London’s industrial estate on Victoria Road beside North Acton Underground station.

Imperial announced the move on 2 November. It said Meatly is preparing for its first production runs in 2027.

What Meatly makes

Meatly was founded in 2022. It grows chicken from cells in steel tanks called bioreactors, rather than from slaughtered birds. Its product is sold as an ingredient for pet food, not for people.

The company says the steps so far have been:

• July 2024: it received UK clearance to sell cultivated meat for pet food, after work with the Food Standards Agency, Defra and the Animal and Plant Health Agency.
• February 2025: a limited run of dog treats containing its chicken, “Chick Bites”, made with the brand THE PACK, went on sale at Pets at Home in Brentford.
• May 2026: it raised £10.4 million in Series A funding, taking its total raised to £17.4 million.

In the May announcement, Meatly said the money would pay for a 20,000-litre bioreactor facility in London. It called that the largest of its kind in Europe.

Why North Acton

Owen Ensor, Meatly’s chief executive, linked the move directly to that plan. “Moving to Grapht Works is a significant step as we prepare to scale cultivated meat and become fully operational next year,” he said in Imperial’s announcement. “We will be creating Europe’s largest cultivated meat facility and begin the move to large scale production.”

Imperial opened Grapht Works in March as space for science companies moving from the lab into manufacturing. The university says:

• the site has 28 industrial units that can be reconfigured as a business grows
• it covers 9.6 acres next to North Acton station, according to Imperial’s brochure for the estate
• earlier tenants include Solena Materials, which makes new textile fibres, Epoch Biodesign, which uses enzymes to recycle plastics, Aed Energy, which makes thermal batteries, and 2D Nano

Alice Sewell, Imperial’s investment director, said the university wanted the jobs and manufacturing these firms create to “stay in London”. Neither Imperial nor Meatly has said how many people will work at the North Acton site.

What it means for you

Nothing changes for residents yet. Meatly’s chicken is a pet food ingredient, and the company has not said when or where its North Acton output will go on sale.

Imperial’s brochure describes the estate as built for science-led industrial businesses. If you are looking for work in science or manufacturing, the companies at Grapht Works are the ones to watch as Meatly moves towards production in 2027.