Final hop harvest for the Hampton Estate

After this year’s harvest (which starts on 1st September 2026) Hampton Estate, Farnham, Surrey will stop growing hops — bringing to a close a chapter that has been part of the land and family business for generations.

This wasn’t an easy or quick decision for the team. Hampton have been growing hops here for a very long time, and Puttenham’s connection to hop gardens goes back even further. But over the past few years, the numbers behind hop production have simply stopped adding up. Hops need a settled, mild, damp climate — and due to climate change summers are becoming hotter and drier, while winters are becoming warmer and wetter when they should be cold. This shift has made hops harder to grow well and far less financially sustainable, costing more to produce than they earn.

Last year the gardens saw a significant reduction in yield due to the hot summer and lack of rain, and this 2026 harvest is set to see a similar drop in production.

The figures behind the decision
Looking at data from 2016 to 2026, the numbers tell a stark story:

• The price per Zentner (50kg) of hops has risen by an average of 2.66% a year — a 30% increase over ten years.
• Costs have climbed sharply over the same period: hourly wage costs are up 78%, and machinery costs are up 80%. Compared to other crops, hops are labour intensive to grow with teams required for stringing the garden and training the plants alongside regular crop maintenance and harvest.
• Yields have become highly unpredictable, driven above all by the weather. Over the last decade, the gap between the average of the highest-yielding years and the average of the lowest-yielding years has been 138% — 167 Zentner in strong years against just 70 Zentner in poor ones.

Looking ahead, the outlook is for more of the same — poorer yields linked to drier weather, combined with flat or falling hop prices and rising costs. Put simply, the numbers don’t stack up.

Growing hops at Hampton
Hops have been grown in the estate’s hop gardens in the village of Puttenham for hundreds of years, for a long time they were the last remaining commercial hop gardens in Surrey.

Hampton specialises in growing a single variety, the traditional Fuggle hop — a classic English aroma hop prized for its delicate, minty, grassy and slightly floral character. Hampton Fuggles have previously been awarded the Wigan Cup by the Institute of Brewing and Distilling for the best sample of Fuggle hop in the UK. Over the years, Hampton’s hops have gone into beers from Hogs Back Brewery, Harvey’s of Lewes, Timothy Taylor’s, Adnams and other UK brewers. They have on occasion been exported to countries wanting to brew beers with English character.

Hops are a culturally significant crop, with many people in the UK holding memories of distant relatives who used to migrate out of London in the autumn for weeks of hop picking in Surrey and Kent. With less than 40 hop growers remaining in the UK, Hampton has always been very proud to continue the hop tradition and the team will be sad to see the end of such an evocative and emotive crop.

What Hampton has tried – the dream of regenerative hops!
The Hampton team has spent real time and effort looking at ways to make it work. Over the past decade they have focused on regenerative practices to improve soil health and water retention in the hop gardens — sowing green cover crops between the plants, bringing in sheep to graze and add organic manure, and planting pollinator hedgerows around the gardens.

They’ve hosted breweries to have conversations about sourcing British hops grown in line with regenerative principles and the value this could bring to brewing companies, in the hope that they could create a high value British regen hop. Unfortunately such a small quantity of hops are used in beer relative to barley that breweries have not been as engaged as the team hoped.

They’ve also assessed irrigation options and new hop varieties, and spoken to other growers and industry contacts to test their thinking. This would require significant investment with little to no potential return.

Unfortunately, none of this changes the fundamental picture: growing hops here is no longer a viable business.

 A shrinking market for cask ale
Growing pressures on the ground come alongside a well-documented decline in demand for traditional cask ale nationally. According to recent reporting, the volume of cask ale sold in UK pubs fell by 7.1% in 2025, following an 11.2% drop the year before, and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) — the drink’s leading champion — has seen its membership fall to an eight-year low. Fuggle-style aroma hops like those grown at Hampton are the traditional backbone of English cask ale, so a shrinking market for real ale means softer, less certain demand for the very varieties Hampton has grown for generations — adding a demand-side headwind to the climate and cost pressures already making the crop unviable here.

The end of a chapter, not the story
Ending hops at Hampton is incredibly sad for the Hampton team and for many others. The hop gardens are a very special place for many people, full of memories and connections. Our annual hop harvest is one of the main events of the Hampton calendar, and the final harvest will undoubtedly be an emotional one.

This isn’t the end of the story for these fields. Over the coming year the team will be thinking carefully, and openly, about what comes next for the land — with a view to something that’s good for the soil, good for their community, and able to stand on its own feet as a business. Hampton will be hosting engagement events as they’d like to share their ideas with local people.

Hampton Estate is part of the Pitch Up and Grow initiative, promoting enterprise stacking. The estate is always open to business ideas from others who wish to work on the land and contribute to their circular rural economy.

Finally, Hampton would like to thank everyone who has grown, picked, dried, and cared for these hops over the years.

Quotes for use:

“This has been one of the hardest decisions we’ve made at Hampton — but it’s the right one. The climate has turned against hops here, the costs keep rising, and demand for cask ale keeps falling. We owe it to this land, and to everyone who’s been part of its story, to be honest about that.”

— Bill Biddell, CEO, Hampton Estate

“While it’s very sad to close this chapter, we’re excited about what comes next. This land has so much potential, and we’re committed to finding something that works for the soil, for our community, and for the future of the estate.”

— Bridget Biddell MBE, Managing Farm Partner, Hampton Estate