Comments on: Hopping Season

By: Christjne

Christjne — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 11:30:00 +0000

Thank you for posting these photos of a time that never be sadly seen again! What times and events were celebrated while picking the hops! Such a shame machinery took over from nimble fingers x

By: Karen Lord

Karen Lord — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 22:07:02 +0000

Have you ever considered publishing a book of these and similar hopping photographs? I’d love to see that, perhaps with the written memories of families who used to travel to Kent every year to take part in the hop-picking.

By: John Cunningham

John Cunningham — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 20:38:51 +0000

Harry Ayres with his foaming pint
Seems a real East End likely lad. Full of fun and a friend to all. I’m writing this from the Ten Bells in Spitalfields during one of my occasional journeys into East London from my home overlooking the vast Atlantic in Co Mayo. Nothing like a change!

By: Alan Baker

Alan Baker — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 13:53:02 +0000

Re Christine’s comments, I live in Worcestershire and can happily confirm that hops are still grown by the River Teme, at Knightwick where they are used by the Teme Valley Brewery. Hops are also grown around Alfrick and Suckley and used by The Hop Shed Brewery.

By: Hetty Startup

Hetty Startup — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 12:42:24 +0000

I found these wonderful to scroll through. So many eventful times must have been had! It reminded me of Gilda Neil’s wonderful book Pull no more Bines.

By: Robert Kearney

Robert Kearney — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 12:40:59 +0000

My late mother was a booking office clerk based at the very grand Bow station on the former North London line when it was operated by the LMS (London Midland Scottish) railway during WWII, although she did work as relief clerk at other stations along the line occasionally. She told me that at hop picking times hundreds of hop pickers used to come to her station with all there chattels e.g. cooking pots and pans etc for shipping down to Kent and I seem to recall she said the railway ran special trains to take the hop pickers directly down to the hop fields in Kent.
Incidentally, in answer to Christine Swans previous comment about where hops are grown now, there is a farm around the village I live in near Ipswich which cultivates fields of small hop plants which are then distributed to hop growers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bow_railway_station
http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bow/index.shtml
https://www.thehopplantcompany.co.uk/

By: sam ellenport

sam ellenport — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 12:38:58 +0000

My wife and her family grew up in St Mary’s Platt, nr. Borough Green in Kent, about 15 miles north of the majority of the images shown here. Since the ’70s when we married, we generally visited the English family in Kent once or twice a year for over 40 years. I’ve walked innumerable miles on the footpaths in the area, which is filled with oast houses. Now made into dwellings, they still overlook fields where hope and soft fruit flourished. Some of this former visual glory can be seen today at the Hop Farm https://thehopfarm.co.uk/
The other crop that has faded is that of cob nuts. Within my memory there were small plantations of trees producing these nuts which one would roast and eat. Cobnut oil is still sold for cooking and has a sweet nutty taste. There is still a small stand of these trees in the garden of the Blue Anchor pub in St Mary’s Platt.

By: barry john matthews

barry john matthews — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 10:36:38 +0000

Wonderful images of a happy time for many.

By: Hilary

Hilary — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 08:44:08 +0000

I love these photos. Everyone looks so happy and relaxed like they are really enjoying themselves on their working holiday, despite the living conditions that we would now probably regard as a bit squalid.

By: Christine Swan

Christine Swan — Sun, 13 Aug 2023 05:44:48 +0000

I do wonder where all of the hops are grown now to supply the huge demand for craft and mainstream beers. After my parents moved to Kent, when I was a child, I remember fields of hops. Much later, when I moved from London to Worcestershire, there were many fields of hops including one supplying Banks very near to where I live. Not any more though. Even the ones along the banks of the River Teme have gone. I did have the good fortune to stay in an oast house while I was doing some work in Kent. The owner was one of the few hop breeders and suppliers in the country.
Sadly, where I live, they would now rather plant executive country housing developments than hops!