Urban Farm DB

Urban farming in United Kingdom

23 citizen-driven urban farms recorded in United Kingdom. Each entry documents who runs it, how the land is held, and where the information came from — nothing is listed without a source.

Gap space
2008

Incredible Edible Todmorden

GBTodmorden, United Kingdom

A citizen movement in a small UK town planting free-to-harvest crops in public gaps. Its 'edible town' concept has spread to communities worldwide.

CommunityFood educationDIY+1

incredible-edible-todmorden.co.uk

Community garden
2002

Sydenham Garden

GBLondon, United Kingdom

A community resource in the London Borough of Lewisham for better mental health. In its green spaces people grow and cook food and make art together, a leading social-prescribing site supporting recovery and empowerment.

WelfareCommunityBiodiversity+1

centreformentalhealth.org.uk+1

Gap space
2009

Skip Garden by Global Generation

GBLondon, United Kingdom

A movable organic garden built inside builders' skips in the middle of the King's Cross redevelopment in London. Made largely (~90%) from reclaimed materials, with beehives and bug hotels, it turned a gap space into a site for youth education and community.

DIYFood educationCommunity+3

globalgeneration.org.uk+1

Schoolyard
2007

RHS Campaign for School Gardening

GBLondon (national), United Kingdom

Launched in 2007 by the Royal Horticultural Society, this is the UK's largest school-gardening campaign. It gives children aged 2–18 opportunities to grow plants and connect with nature, supporting over 30,000 schools and groups and some 2.1 million children, and promotes gardening as a teaching tool through teacher training and resources.

Food educationOrganic cycleCommunity+2

rhs.org.uk+1

Rooftop
2019

IKEA Greenwich Rooftop Community Garden

GBLondon, United Kingdom

A rooftop community garden at IKEA's flagship Greenwich store (opened 2019), where a retailer combines branding with citizen participation by opening the space free to the community.

CommunityFood educationBiodiversity

ikea.com

Vacant lot
Interim use2011

Glasgow Stalled Spaces

GBGlasgow, United Kingdom

A Glasgow program (since 2011) putting stalled development sites to interim use as citizen gardens, with the city enabling temporary use via short-term leases and grants — a leading overseas example.

CommunityDIYBiodiversity

glasgow.gov.uk

Building interior
2012

Growing Underground

GBLondon, United Kingdom

World's first underground farm, growing pesticide-free leaves under LED hydroponics in Clapham's WWII tunnels.

Food educationCommunity

cnbc.com+1

Building interior
2015

GrowUp Farms - Unit 84

GBLondon, United Kingdom

The UK's first commercial aquaponic vertical farm, in a Beckton warehouse (closed end of 2017).

Organic cycleCommunity

medium.com+1

Community garden

Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden

GBLondon, United Kingdom

Valued as an environmental asset mitigating pollution, but lost to housing redevelopment.

CommunityBiodiversityWelfare

andyworthington.co.uk+1

Show 14 more
Community garden
2010

Grow Heathrow

GBSipson, London, United Kingdom

An ~11-year squatted community garden born from opposition to Heathrow expansion.

CommunityFood educationOrganic cycle

en.wikipedia.org+1

Community garden
1906

Manor Garden Allotments

GBLondon, United Kingdom

A historic allotment promised 'in perpetuity', swept away for the Olympics.

CommunityFood educationWelfare

en.wikipedia.org+1

Other

Newham City Farm

GBLondon (Beckton), United Kingdom

One of London's oldest city farms, run by Newham Council. In 2022 its closure was decided as part of the borough's austerity budget (a further £7.6M of cuts).

CommunityFood educationBiodiversity

newhamrecorder.co.uk+1

Other

Gorgie City Farm

GBEdinburgh, United Kingdom

One of Scotland's leading urban farms. Falling external funding and rising costs forced it into liquidation and closure in November 2019, with 18 job losses, as its grant-dependent finances collapsed.

CommunityFood educationWelfare

bbc.co.uk+1

Other
1983

Coventry City Farm

GBCoventry (Hillfields), United Kingdom

An inner-city farm opened in 1983 on Clarence Street, Hillfields. When the council withdrew its annual grant and reserves ran dry, a fundraising drive fell short and it closed in 2008 after 25 years.

CommunityFood education

coventrytelegraph.net+1

Community garden
2019

London Citizen Science Community Garden Crop Yields Study

GBLondon, United Kingdom

Citizen science project quantifying crop yields from London community gardens during 2019-2020 growing seasons to demonstrate urban farming productivity

CommunityFood educationOrganic cycle

digitalcommons.lmu.edu

Vacant lot
1977

Vauxhall City Farm, London

GBLondon, United Kingdom

Started in 1977 as Jubilee City Farm by a group of architects squatting at St Oswald's Place, in a Vauxhall neighbourhood cleared by demolitions between 1972 and 1976. Now in the London Borough of Lambeth, it keeps alpacas, sheep, goats, pigs, donkeys and ponies and works across education, youth work, animal care and horticulture.

CommunityFood educationWelfare

en.wikipedia.org

Vacant lot
1977

Mudchute Park and Farm, London

GBLondon, United Kingdom

A 13-hectare (32-acre) urban farm and park in Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs, Tower Hamlets, east London. The site had been a dumping ground for dock excavation spoil since the 1860s; when the Port of London Authority moved to transfer it for housing in the early 1970s, the Association of Island Communities ran a successful campaign to keep it as public open space, and the farm was established in 1977.

CommunityFood educationBiodiversity

en.wikipedia.org

Vacant lot
1978

Spitalfields City Farm, London

GBLondon, United Kingdom

A 1.3-acre city farm in Tower Hamlets, east London, close to Brick Lane. It started in 1978 as an allotment site on the wasteland left by a former railway goods depot, later added animals to become a city farm, and achieved charity status in 1980.

CommunityFood educationDIY

en.wikipedia.org

Vacant lot
1979

Stepney City Farm, London

GBLondon, United Kingdom

A city farm of about 4.2 acres in Stepney, east London, founded in 1979 by Lynne Bennett as 'Stepping Stones' on the wasteland left after the Stepney Congregational Church was destroyed by bombing in 1941. It combines livestock, a community garden, a farmers' market and traditional craft workshops.

CommunityFood educationDIY

en.wikipedia.org

Other
1980

Meanwood Valley Urban Farm (Leeds, UK)

GBLeeds, United Kingdom

A 24-acre urban farm in Meanwood, Leeds, established in 1980. It demonstrates organic farming and sustainability, keeping Dexter cattle, Whitefaced Woodland and Ryeland sheep, alpacas, goats, several breeds of pig, chickens and ducks, and producing honey. It also runs a Recycled Bike Project teaching mechanical skills to young people.

CommunityFood educationWelfare+2

en.wikipedia.org

Other
1972

Freightliners City Farm (Islington, London)

GBLondon, United Kingdom

An urban farm started in 1972 by Sandy Wheeler on a Freightliners goods yard in York Way, relocated in 1978 to Lower Holloway, Islington, when the original site was needed for council housing. It has an ornamental garden, vegetable, herb and fruit gardens, and an animal village.

CommunityFood education

en.wikipedia.org

Other
1984

Wythenshawe Community Farm (Manchester, UK)

GBManchester, United Kingdom

A farm inside the city, established in 1984 in Sharston and later moved to Wythenshawe Park in south Manchester. It keeps pigs, sheep, goats, cows and horses, and its Hereford herd has won awards. The walled garden behind the farm historically supplied fruit and vegetables to Wythenshawe Hall.

CommunityFood education

en.wikipedia.org

Other
1972

Kentish Town City Farm (London, UK)

GBLondon, United Kingdom

Opened in the London Borough of Camden in 1972 and described as London's first urban farm. Inspired by children's farms in the Netherlands, it combined keeping farm animals with gardening space, with the goal of letting local children experience contact with animals.

CommunityFood education

en.wikipedia.org+1

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Urban farming in United Kingdom — 23 cases — Urban Farm DB