Harvesting the Hops

Hops are an essential ingredient for the production of beer. Many Londoners would travel to Kent in late August or September for six weeks to work harvesting the hops and to live in huts on the farms. Because this harvesting work was unskilled, safe and outside, families could labour together to collect the hops with even very young children and babies being taken into the fields. This time away from the conditions of inner city London was often considered a ‘holiday’ with many families returning to the same farms year after year to meet up with friends.