Manchester
City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division
In short
City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division issues 7 permits we publish for Manchester, last verified 2026-09-12. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peddler / Hawker License (Food Truck) | City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division | $150.00 per year or $25.00 per day for a Peddler license valid city-wide; $400.00 per year or $75.00 per day for a Peddler license valid within the Civic Center Zone — per the City Clerk's own Business License Fee Worksheet. | annual (expires April 30) or daily, at the applicant's election | 2026-09-12 |
| Veterinary Facility Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-12 |
| Fitness Studio/Gym Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-12 |
| Business License — Food Service Establishment | City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division | $50.00 for the first 1,500 square feet of the business premises (or fraction thereof), plus $2.00 per each additional 100 square feet (or fraction thereof) above 1,500 square feet; minimum fee $50.00, maximum fee $1,000.00 — per Code of Ordinances § 110.20, matching the City Clerk's own Business License Fee Worksheet exactly. | annual — licensing year runs May 1 through April 30; new applications after May 1 may be prorated (100% May-Jul, 75% Aug-Oct, 50% Nov-Jan, 25% Feb-Apr) | 2026-09-12 |
| Salon/Barber/Cosmetology Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-12 |
| Business License — Retail Store (general retail exempt; High Impact Retail Sales covered)only if it applies to you | City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-12 |
| Auto Repair Shop Municipal License (not found)only if it applies to you | City of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk, Business Licensing & Enforcement Division | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-12 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
Peddler / Hawker License (Food Truck)
A mobile vendor pays this flat/daily Peddler fee instead of the square-footage Business License formula above, since a food truck has no fixed premises to measure. The application's own Section VIII requires a State of New Hampshire Hawkers & Peddlers License, a certified criminal record check, a $500,000 certificate of insurance naming the City as additional insured, written permission from abutting landowners at each vending location, and — for any food or beverage sales — 'a copy of a license issued by the Manchester Health Department,' meaning a Manchester food truck genuinely stacks this City Clerk license on top of the Health Department's own Mobile Food Unit permit recorded separately below, plus the state peddler credential.
Veterinary Facility Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. The City Clerk's own current Business License Application names no veterinary-specific category anywhere on the form. A veterinary practice's Manchester-specific obligations are the same commercial building permit, Certificate of Occupancy, and zoning approvals recorded elsewhere in this file, on top of New Hampshire's own state-layer veterinary board licensing of the individual practitioner (which this project's state file confirms carries no separate facility-level credential).
Fitness Studio/Gym Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. The City Clerk's own current Business License Application names no gym-, fitness-, or health-club-specific category anywhere on the form. A fitness studio's Manchester-specific obligations are the same commercial building permit, Certificate of Occupancy, Place of Assembly Permit (recorded above, since a studio's occupancy load may qualify), and zoning approvals recorded elsewhere in this file.
Business License — Food Service Establishment
Every restaurant or coffee shop is licensed under the City Clerk's 'Food Service Establishment' business activity, requiring sign-off from Planning & Community Development, the Health Department, the Police Department, and the Fire Department before the license issues, per the application's own Section IV. This is a business-operation license distinct from, and required in addition to, the Health Department's own Food Service Establishment Permit recorded separately below. A returned check carries a $30.00 penalty, and transferring a license to a new owner, name, or location costs $25.00 each. The City Clerk's own application lists several other licensable activities not covered by this record (Hotel/Motel/Inn/Bed & Breakfast, Tattoo/Body Piercing Shop, Taxicab Company, Towing, Junk Dealers and Scrap Yards, Secondhand Dealers and Auction Houses, Amusement Devices and Arcades, Dance/Dance Halls) that fall outside the ten industries covered here.
Salon/Barber/Cosmetology Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. The City Clerk's own current Business License Application names no barber, beauty, or cosmetology category anywhere on the form — a genuine difference from the Tattoo/Body Piercing Shop category the same form does license by name. A salon's Manchester-specific obligations are the same commercial building permit, Certificate of Occupancy, and zoning approvals recorded elsewhere in this file, on top of New Hampshire's own state-layer Barbering, Cosmetology or Esthetics Shop License.
Business License — Retail Store (general retail exempt; High Impact Retail Sales covered)
No fee applies to an ordinary retail store. The ordinance's own definition of a 'HIGH IMPACT RETAIL STORE' — the only retail-adjacent category on the City Clerk's licensable Business Activities list — is narrow: 'any business which is accessible to the public where food, goods, merchandise or equipment is sold at retail and where tobacco, tobacco paraphernalia, smoking paraphernalia... and/or lottery tickets are sold.' Under the ordinance's definition, a clothing shop, bookstore, or boutique selling none of those items owes no Business License fee at all. A retail store that does sell tobacco, vapor products, or lottery tickets is licensed as 'High Impact Retail Sales' and owes the identical square-footage-based fee recorded in the general Business License record ($50.00 for the first 1,500 sq ft, plus $2.00 per 100 sq ft thereafter, $50.00-$1,000.00).
Auto Repair Shop Municipal License (not found)
No fee applies. The City Clerk's own current Business License Application lists its complete set of licensable Business Activities directly on the form itself, and none of them is auto-repair-specific. An auto repair shop's Manchester-specific obligations are the same commercial building permit, Certificate of Occupancy, and (if applicable) sign permit and zoning approvals recorded elsewhere in this file, plus New Hampshire's own state-layer Repairer Registration and Vehicle Inspection Station License.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Manchester
- Phone
- (603) 624-6455
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Business License Application — the City Clerk's own current form, listing every licensable Business Activity, the square-footage license fee worksheet, and the Peddler/Hawker fee scheduleCity of Manchester, Office of the City Clerk · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-12
- Manchester Code of Ordinances § 110.20 (Business License Fees) — the codified square-footage license fee formulaCity of Manchester, New Hampshire (Code of Ordinances, via American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-12
- Manchester Code of Ordinances §§ 110.01 (Definitions, including High Impact Retail Store and Food-Service Establishment) and 110.02 (Business License Required)City of Manchester, New Hampshire (Code of Ordinances, via American Legal Publishing) · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-12
Other offices serving Manchester
The full permit list for this jurisdiction
Industry permit lists that include this agency
New Hampshire jurisdictions
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.