At The London Beekeeper Ltd we have a vision of responsible urban beekeeping that is part of an evolving, healthy, thriving, urban landscape and ecosystem.
A future where cities are greener, healthier and more biodiverse. Where more and more spaces in cities provide habitat and forage for pollinators. Where architects, town planners, parks, community groups and homeowners all help to make their cities more pollinator and people friendly. Where urban landscapes provide beauty, health benefits, food security, climate change resilience and pollinator security. Urban [and rural] spaces must evolve to better suit us and nature.
The good news is, we’re not alone in having this vision, and the work has already begun! There are exciting projects happening all over London [and the world!] changing the fabric of our cities. We think the changes over the next 50 years will be profound and inspiring for future generations.
We believe that urban beekeeping is an important part of this changing landscape, and we think responsible urban beekeeping [and other farming] is not only possible but vital for sustainability and food security – adding redundancy to traditional rural beekeeping [and wildlife] that is under attack from pesticides, over farming, soil erosion and habitat and wildlife loss. London offers a unique eco system different from rural areas – in 2024 many of the countries honey farmers suffered record low honey yields due to bad weather and other factors while, for many, London recorded record high yields out producing rural equivalents! We recorded honey yields in Central London equal to or greater than hives in the suburbs, country side and from our contacts abroad [Poland and France]. This indicates that London, with it’s unique, complex and varied make up and size offers its own specific eco system with its own set of inputs and outcomes.
As a nation we don’t want a future where we are so heavily reliant on imported honey [as we are now]. Locally and regionally produced foods have many benefits, as we know, and local UK honey is no exception. In fact there is now much evidence that imported honey is, more often than not, “fake” honey. Much of which ends up on our supermarket shelves.
Local, [and specifically] small batch honey is much more likely to be authentic and have a higher nutritional value.
Unpasteurized [raw] honey is by far the healthiest kind of honey you can consume.
This is why we are taking the following action to promote urban beekeeping in London:
- Promoting responsible urban beekeeping with planting as best practice
- Engaging with clients to improve forage and habitat
- Promoting low density hive numbers
- We work with world leading greening partners to provide the spaces our clients, their bees and local pollinators need
- We advocate and help clients towards “forage surplus beekeeping” – The Gold Standard of sustainable beekeeping
- We have said goodbye to clients that don’t want to be part of this transformative journey
- For our enquirers that don’t have the resources / space needed to host bee hives we offer help in finding other ways they can maximise their spaces to help pollinators and other invertebrates.
- We continue to help clients and local greening projects get access to grants for planting, through our work with the National Park City, and have secured thousands of pounds worth of funds on their behalf
- We accept donations that help fund our pollinator planting projects
London is only at the beginning of a journey towards food and pollinator security, climate change resilience and the beautiful, greener, healthier capital we could all benefit from and enjoy.
If we work together amazing things are possible!
