TikTok chef Spudman is threatened with eviction from his stall by council who want to build a flowerbed – as 65K fans sign petition to save him

A beloved TikTok chef known as the Spudman is facing eviction from his pitch despite amassing an online following of millions of fans.   

Busybody Tamworth council wants to remove him from his spot in the town centre to plant flowerbeds.

The Mail’s food critic Tom Parker Bowles visited the Spudman last year and urged his readers to ‘believe the hype’ about the viral chef. Read his review here.  

Ben Newman, 39, who sells £5 jacket potatoes from his trailer in Tamworth, Staffordshire, has gained 4million followers on TikTok, where he shares clips about his business.   

Now more than 72,000 people have signed a petition supporting the father-of-nine.

On Tuesday morning, he posted a TikTok video discussing a meeting planned several hours later with the council.

Speaking in the clip, Ben, who is undergoing dialysis for a kidney condition, said: ‘So it’s past two in the morning, and I got after up about half an hour ago, and I can’t get back to sleep.

‘So I thought I’d pull my thoughts out into the camera for a minute. Got this big meeting with the council tomorrow, [I will have to] sit there with a load of suits and defend my business, 

‘It’s nuts that has even got to this point that we’ve had to do all this just to keep our pitch, keep our contract, and keep the shipping container going on there that we were promised by the previous council.’ 

While many people are supporting the vendor and TikTok stat, he revealed that he has received ‘a fair bit of hate online’ and been accused of ‘kicking my toys out of pram for no reason’.

 ‘It’s my livelihood. It’s what feeds my children, keeps a roof over their head and stuff like that. Lot of people also said just, you know, up and go somewhere else. I don’t want to. 

‘I love Tamworth. I love the people of Tamworth, and I want to be on our pitch for a long time to come and doing nice things for the people.

‘So I’m going to go into that meeting tomorrow, and I’m not going to take anything less than what we’ve asked for, because I don’t think I’m being unfair. 

Ben added that ‘a thousand other towns’ would love the footfall they bring.

In a statement, the Labour-led council said that street food vendors are temporarily moved for regeneration work and Spudman would be able to return to a pitch just a few metres from his current one. 

The council’s leader, Carol Dean, said: ‘We very much value small local businesses in Tamworth. One such local business is the much-loved Spudman.’  

She added the redevelopment of town’s St Editha’s Square will include a new college campus and will bring hundreds of people into town everyday.

The Change.org petition states that the loss of Spudman would cause a ‘considerable upheaval and loss of business’. 

‘Spudman, beloved in our community for years, has faithfully served customers at his original location. It’s also worth noting that small businesses, such as Spudman’s, hold significant importance to local economies,’ it reads.

Tamworth Borough Council first requested Spudman relocate to the main high street in June  – a move the potato chef is unhappy about as he does not want to upset other traders with his own high footfall.

Mr Newman, instantly recognisable by his trademark pink-mohawk, said at the time: ‘We are getting kicked off our patch by the council.

‘I love this spot, by the church, on the square, absolutely beautiful and we’re getting kicked off.

‘We knew it was coming because they are redeveloping all the square, we didn’t realise it was going to happen this soon.

‘Where are we going to go and what are we going to do, I don’t know just yet.

‘It will be better in the long run and we will be coming back but what do we do in the meantime?

‘Can’t believe I’m getting kicked off.’

Fans of Spudman were left devastated by the news but pleaded the social media star to take his potatoes on tour.

Karen Whipday said: ‘Go on tour, take Spudman around the country and share the love.’

Lee Smethurst added: ‘Do they know who you are?’

Emily Lord posted: ‘Go on tour round the UK and make videos.’

Vixie Massey said: ‘What’s wrong with the pavement now? Council should offer you a different plot.’

Tamworth Borough Council has been approached for comment. 

Mr Newman has previously revealed the heartfelt reason behind his rockstar look after suffering his own health battles.

The jacket potato king got the punk hairstyle to raise money for kidney research and it’s something that has stuck ever since.

His business has exploded since he started uploading videos onto TikTok last year just to ‘keep an eye on my kids’ and the son of a potato merchant is regularly mobbed when fans see him walking through the town.

It’s beyond his wildest dreams and something that seemed unimaginable when he started the business under a different name two decades ago, aged just 18.

He now sells up to 1,000 meals a day priced between £4 and £5 from inside his tight-knit cream-coloured trailer.

He suffered three failed kidney transplants – in 2014, 2016 and 2019 – and will be on dialysis for the rest of his life.

People have been flocking from as far as the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia to his humble jacket potato van after his videos took the internet by storm racking up 2.6 million followers and 41.6 million likes on TikTok.

‘It’s all been beyond my wildest dreams,’ he said.

‘I just try and have fun with the videos. People seem to enjoy the livestreams but I enjoy filming people’s responses when I give them a free spud.

‘I’ve seen the Binley Mega Chippy comparison but I like to feel we’ve worked a little harder than that.

‘They were a meme and it happened by chance. We know it will drop off but we want to keep going for as long as we can and to put Tamworth firmly back on the map.

‘If we do well, so does the town. It’s all about promoting local businesses and also every jacket potato seller out there.

‘There is one in your own town, go and support them.

‘My grandad was a farmer and my dad was a jacket potato merchant, I think they would be proud.’

He has no idea how he became an unlikely tourist attraction for young people after originally joining TikTok to keep an eye on his children.

Since then, his simple videos of him sharing culinary tips and daily life as a jacket potato vendor on his trailer have exploded in popularity.

Mr Newman has even earned his own personal fanbase in Hawaii and admits he is still baffled by his newfound fame and becoming a millennial craze.