Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
This film is part of Free

Kent Hop Farming
A sympathetic portrait of hop-pickers and oast-house workers in 1930s Kent – showing scenes of rural life that have long since vanished
From the collection of:

Overview
This fascinating film shows families of hop-pickers, including children, hard at work pulling the hops off the bines on which they grow. The hops are put into sacks and taken to an oast-house for drying where we get glimpses of the interior workings of these unusual buildings. We also see the hop-pickers' temporary accommodation, called Hopper Huts, where cooking takes place on open fires. Derelict oast-houses and their conversions to domestic housing are also seen.
This interesting film, of unknown origin, depicts hop-picking scenes around Goldwell and Biddenden in Kent in the 1930s. It captures the period when the harvesting of hops required large numbers of temporary migrant labour, which in the case of the Kent hop-fields, came mostly from London's East End. Birmingham and other cities in the Midlands would provide pickers to work the hop-fields of the Malvern area. Special trains, called Hop Pickers' Specials would be provided to transport the families to the Kentish hop-fields. Once there, the families would be accommodated in Hopper Huts, which feature in this film.
Related

New Perspectives: Tangerine New Perspectives: Tangerine
Short documentary 2025 3 mins
Harry Wallace, a student at Northumbria university, explains why Sean Baker's LA-set comedy-drama, about a transgender sex worker on the hunt for her cheating -ex, is worth your time.

Daniel Craig in Conversation with Mark Kermode Daniel Craig in Conversation with Mark Kermode
Inside Film 2025 44 mins
Daniel Craig talks to Mark Kermode about his acting career, from his early role in Love is the Devil through to the Luca Guadagnino directed Queer.

New Perspectives: Fish Tank New Perspectives: Fish Tank
Short documentary 2025 4 mins
Adam Smith of Northumbria University explains why Andrea Arnold's coming-of-age story, about a girl who uses dance to escape, is his favourite film on BFI Player.

New Perspectives: Pusher New Perspectives: Pusher
Short documentary 2025 5 mins
Noah Ball of Northumbria University explains why you should seize the chance to watch Nicolas Winding Refn's debut.

Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan on working with David Lynch - Q&A
Inside Film 2025 38 mins
Kyle MacLachlan talks to BFI CEO Ben Roberts about working with David Lynch on the legendary series Twin Peaks.

On Falling - Exclusive Q&A On Falling - Exclusive Q&A
Inside Film 2025 30 mins
Writer-director Laura Carreira talks to Nia Childs about her debut feature, On Falling.