Britain's abattoirs hit critical low putting UK food security at dire risk – warns new coalition

Britain has lost more than nine in ten of its abattoirs since the 1970s, leaving farmers without vital local slaughter facilities and putting British food production, rural businesses and animal welfare increasingly at risk.

The consequences are already being felt by farmers. A 2025 survey of 850 farmers and land managers found that two-thirds had experienced difficulty accessing suitable abattoir services, while one-third had seen an abattoir they used close.

If their current abattoir closed, 43% said they would no longer be able to sell meat locally and almost three in ten said they might have to close their meat business altogether. Nearly six in ten said their business would not be profitable without direct or local selling.

The coalition warns that without urgent intervention, further closures will undermine the Government's ambitions for food security, economic growth and a thriving British farming sector.

In a joint letter signed by over 150 organisations, businesses and individuals, including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Sir Roger Daltrey and Clarkson Farm’s Charlie Ireland, the Government is being urged to recognise local slaughter capacity as essential food and economic infrastructure and take urgent action to secure a sustainable network across the UK.

The coalition also includes Sustain alliance members The National Trust, The Soil Association, Compassion in World Farming and The Sustainable Food Trust, who coordinated the joint letter with The All-Party
Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare on behalf of the Abattoir Sector Group.

Christopher Price, Chair of the Abattoir Sector Group, said:

“You cannot have British meat without the infrastructure to process it. Government talks about food security, backing British farmers and delivering growth across the country. But every time a local abattoir closes, farmers lose another route to market, animals may have to travel further and another piece of Britain's food infrastructure disappears.

We are now at a tipping point. We need smarter, proportionate and genuinely riskbased regulation that maintains high standards without driving viable local businesses out of existence. Government needs to act before more of this essentialinfrastructure is lost.”

As slaughter capacity becomes concentrated in fewer, larger processors, farmers can face longer journeys and lose access to services such as private kill, cutting, packing and specialist processing. Local meat businesses can lose their route to market altogether.

The impact extends far beyond abattoirs themselves. Farms, butchers, farm shops, hospitality businesses and rural communities all depend upon functioning local supply chains. The loss of local facilities can also undermine native breed production, conservation grazing and nature-friendly farming.

Patrick Holden, CEO of the Sustainable Food Trust and Sustain member, said:

“A sustainable network of small and medium-sized abattoirs offering the right services for farmers is critical to ensuring they can continue to provide the nation with nutritious food, reduce dependence on imported animal feed and chemicals, and give people the opportunity to buy fully traceable, high-welfare meat with real provenance and trust.

There can be no such thing as local meat without local abattoirs, yet previous governments have allowed this vital infrastructure to disappear, at exactly the moment when they should be laser-focused on securing a resilient food system for the future.”

The ask

The coalition is calling on the Prime Minister to bring together Defra and the Treasury, alongside the devolved governments and relevant public bodies, to work with industry to secure a sustainable network of local and regional abattoirs.

It is asking governments across the UK to:

1. Recognise local slaughter capacity as essential infrastructure, ensuring it is considered alongside transport, energy and skills in economic planning.
2. Urgently review regulation and charging, including Official Veterinarian costs, inspection arrangements, regulatory thresholds and opportunities for digitalisation.
3. Establish targeted funding for local abattoirs and feasibility work, enabling local areas to identify gaps and develop investable proposals, including co-operatives, mobile facilities and public-private partnerships.

The coalition says local solutions will be essential because the needs of farming communities differ across the country and warns that if Britain wants resilient domestic food production, thriving rural economies and a transition to nature-friendly farming, it cannot afford to lose more local abattoirs.