Dig for Victory: the wartime campaign that shaped UK allotments

In the summer of 1939, the British government issued a challenge to every household in the country: Dig for Victory. Within a few years, the number of allotment plots in the UK had grown from around 800,000 to over 1.4 million.

Today there are around 330,000 — and 174,000 people are waiting for one.

The campaign that fed a nation

When war broke out in September 1939, Britain was importing around 70% of its food. German U-boats were already threatening supply lines across the Atlantic. The Ministry of Agriculture knew that if the nation was going to eat through a long war, it would need to grow its own food at home.

The Dig for Victory campaign launched in October 1939 with a simple, powerful message: grow food wherever you can. Parks, lawns, railway embankments, and bomb sites were all converted to growing land. The famous slogan appeared on posters, in newspapers, and on the radio.

By 1943, there were over 1.4 million allotment plots under cultivation in the UK. Amateur gardeners were growing an estimated 10% of the nation's food supply. The campaign is widely credited with helping Britain survive the worst years of the wartime food crisis.

Why it matters today

The allotment culture we have today is, in large part, a direct legacy of that wartime effort. Many of the sites still in use were created or expanded during the Dig for Victory years. The Allotments Act 1925, which required local authorities to provide allotments on demand, took on new meaning as hundreds of thousands of new plot holders discovered a love of growing that outlasted the war itself.

But the numbers tell a sobering story. From 1.4 million plots at the wartime peak, the UK now has around 330,000 — a decline of more than 75%. Sites have been sold for development, converted for other uses, or simply allowed to fall into disrepair. The rate of site closures has tripled compared to a decade ago.

Meanwhile, demand has grown. Since 2006, the number of people on allotment waiting lists has increased fourfold. The average wait is now 4 years nationally. In some London boroughs, it is over 17 years.

The allotment gap

There is no national directive equivalent to Dig for Victory today. But the impulse it tapped into — the desire to grow food, connect with the land, and be self-sufficient — is as strong as ever. The people on those 174,000-long waiting lists are waiting to do something their grandparents and great-grandparents did as a matter of national duty.

The difference is that in 1939, the government made it easy. Land was found. Plots were created. Today, the system is fragmented, underfunded, and opaque. Waiting lists are managed in spreadsheets. Applicants have no idea where they stand. Councils have no clear picture of demand.

What can be done

allotments.info exists to fix the information gap. A transparent national waiting list — where applicants can see their position, apply to multiple sites in one form, and receive updates — is the minimum the system should offer.

A longer-term goal is harder: reversing the loss of allotment land and making it easier for councils and societies to manage the demand they have. That starts with data, transparency, and modern tools.

The people on the waiting list today are not asking for very much. They want the chance to dig. Dig for Victory showed what becomes possible when society decides to make that easy.

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Watch: The Dig for Victory story — a short look at how the wartime campaign shaped UK growing culture.