Give Peas A Chance: British Growers Fight Back As Purchases Hit 50-Year Low

British pea growers are fighting to put a freezer staple back on the nation’s plates, launching a campaign backed by television chef Matt Tebbutt and *Clarkson’s Farm* farmer Harriet Cowan as household purchases fall to their lowest level in more than half a century.

Defra figures reported by *The Telegraph* show weekly purchases have fallen from 144g per person in 1975 to just 37g in the latest year cited — a decline of around 74%.

Choose British Peas, which represents the UK frozen pea industry, is responding with a playful publicity campaign carrying a serious message about supporting domestic growers.

Street signs featuring familiar London locations have appeared with the letter “P” removed, turning Parliament Street into “arliament Street” and Buckingham Palace Road into “Buckingham alace Road”. The stunt asks consumers to consider what Britain would look like without its peas.

The campaign also highlights a generational divide. Its research found that 57% of Britons regard frozen peas as a classic British food, falling to 24% among 18–24-year-olds, compared with 79% of those aged over 65.

Tebbutt is encouraging shoppers to rediscover their affordability and versatility, while Cowan stresses that continued demand is essential to British farming.

“As farmers, we want to keep growing great British food,” she said.

Campaign spokesman Peter Judge said the missing letters were intended to prompt discussion about peas’ contribution to British food culture and food security. The campaign puts UK self-sufficiency in pea production at around 90%.

For the fresh produce industry, the campaign raises a broader question: how can familiar British crops win a place in younger shoppers’ changing diets?

The challenge is to turn affection for the humble pea into a renewed reason to buy it — and sustained demand for the growers behind it.