I have seen the future – it is green, it is efficient and it is happening right now under your feet in Clapham ! When The Jam ( one of my all time favourite popular beat combos) hit the number one spot for the first time in their career in March 1980 they sang about Going Underground to avoid “atomic crimes” and “boys all singing and boys all shouting for tomorrow”. This may have been an apocalyptic response to hide in shelters avoiding a potential future nuclear fallout, and where “kidney machines have been replaced by rockets and guns”, but what I have just experienced is “Growing Underground” – the regeneration of an old World War II shelter being utilised to sustainability grow micro herbs and salad greens, signalling one of the ways forward for future food production in the UK and beyond.
We have all had genius ideas with mates in a pub after having a few (too)many beers, but what old school friends Richard Ballard and Stephen Dring came up with after one or two of their drinking sessions was an urban farming idea utilising hydroponics rather than conventional farming techniques. The friends were both suffering from a slight “mid life” crisis, one with a failed business venture, and the other with an awakening to the passage of time when receiving a Pension Fund Maturity letter. Neither of them had any agricultural experience or expertise, and initial ideas for vertical farming in high rise unused tower blocks proved to be too wieldy and costly to be be a success. Thereafter, and teaming up with an Agricultural expert Chris Nelson, together with Michelin starred chef Michel Roux Junior ( both now board members), Growing Underground was established to grow environmentally friendly, high quality vegetables and herbs.
In a reverse of the original High Rise Farm idea, their attention had been drawn to possible underground farming possibilities. This was assisted by Richards knowledge of World War II shelters he had discovered filming documentaries for Hidden London after he had started on a Film Degree he had had always wanted to undertake but never had had the time.
There are indeed 8 vast subterranean tunnels built around 1941 to shelter London citizens from the blitz, dug out after three or four disastrous direct hits had been suffered on Underground stations that people had been using to hide from the bombs in the early stages of the war. These tunnels are much deeper — 33 metres- than the Underground stations, and all but one are under Northern line stations. They were built to accommodate upto 8000 people at a time, with allocated beds, and were fully self sufficient containing huge fans for air circulation and enough food for 3 months in case of both the entry and exit being blocked.
On the tours that Growing Underground now offer to the public (£35 for an hour and 15 minutes) you get to hear in detail how the guys eventually persuaded TFL to allow them to start using the tunnel situated under Clapham Common Tube. The air ventilation system and entry point (one small lift or 180 steps, 1 more than Covent Garden tube stairway) are more or less being utilised as found after being dormant for many years. In fact the most recent use has been that of companies using the tunnels for archiving, and there is a stash of Beatles archives that both founders would like to get access to but has up until now eluded them.
A long way down but even longer back up !
Before descending into the farm your tour guides will insist that all jewellery including any rings with any kind of stone be taken off and put into pockets or lockers. You will also have your phone checked for any cracks. This is all to ensure any particles of glass (or diamonds I guess?) find there way into the herbs. Fortunately, and rather oddly, spectacles escape this rule, for which I was very grateful as otherwise the whole visit would have gone by in a blur to me !
Once you have descended you have a very fetching dress code imposed upon you – white wellies, a Doctors Style overcoat and hairnet. In my case I also benefited from my first experience wearing a beard snood – very sexy blue little numbers. A deep cleansing hand wash and sanitising gel the follows before your adventure begins.
I don’t know how to wear a beard snood ….
The temperature in the tunnels is pretty comfortable at a consistent 15/16c – in fact a lot cooler than outside on the day I visited which was a balmy 21c. You are first taken into the packaging area which whilst somewhat automated still has a hands on element with 4 work stations for manual packing to ensure the right produce are packed into the right punnets. This was not in operation during our visit as they tend to happen after hours, but you could appreciate how things would run during a busy day when they advised that they are currently running at between 2,000 to 4,000 punnets of micro herbs/salad leafs a day leaving the farm. This is a combination of bulk product and 30g and 70g punnets, and these are now going to customers such as Tesco, Planet Organics, Whole Foods and more recently Ocado, as well of course providing to the restaurant and catering industry. Interestingly here we learnt that their produce cannot be certified organic as it is not grown in Organic soil. So what is it grown in ?
Carpet Underlay ? 
Packing Area
They are grown in squares called substrate which are basically carpet offcuts resembling underlay. There are companies that take carpet offcuts, use machinery to rip it up and repurpose it for Growing Underground in the Square size required by them. Anglo Recycling is performing this job for Going Underground. They are then soaked in water before being used in the propagation stage. Thereafter the seeds are added to the square ( after being soaked or “chitted”) and put into trays wrapped in plastic to provide humidity, tricking them into thinking they are in soil wherein actually they are sitting in carpets ! Water is also sprayed in to the plastic as required to increase moisture.
The benefits of this type of farming are multiple. However the main advantage is the efficiency and speed that the growing process experiences in the controlled environment that Growing Underground have created. For example if you take pea shoots in a conventional uncontrolled farming environment you would enjoy approximate 8-10 yields per year. In an uncontrolled greenhouse this figure increases to about 25-30 yields per year. In Growing Underground’s Facility they can experience upto 60 yields per year, unaffected by seasonal changes, weather conditions and being grown in a pesticide free environment.
Tour Guide Extraordinaire 
Leaving the packing area 
Once pollination has commenced the seeds are moved to the farming area where they continue their growth under pink low energy LED lights. The seeds are all grown together – about twenty different varieties- in vertical stacked trays other than two allergens which are grown and kept separate. There are a variety of colours displayed all along the shelves with red mustard, red cabbage and some being grown and supplied with their seeds attached. These include Coriander and their punchy garlic chives which add a little texture to the end product.
We were then given the chance to taste the product – Including Wasabi Mustard, Broccoli shoots and Garlic Chives. We were warned that the taste is strong and to be careful if we ordinarily find the taste of mustard strong. This proved to absolutely spot on as the taste was highly concentrated. I had been concerned that the taste profile would not be as good as a product grown in conventional soil – how wrong I was. These leaves were packed with flavour and were better than I had tried or purchased elsewhere.
Garlic Chives with seed 
Pink stem radish 
The leaves are watered daily according to each trays individual requirement but the hydroponic system uses 70% less water than open field farming. They are also working towards carbon neutral certification and ensuring all the substraits are recycled to improve efficiency.
We were left to roam up and down the the racks to photograph and survey all the produce at varying growth times before being given free punnets of their Italian and Asian mixed leaves. Then it was back up to the ground – most took the lift, but I decided to walk up the stairs. Beware it’s a lot harder coming back up !
This is how to do Ventilation!
This tour provided a fascinating insight as to how this produce can be grown far more efficiently in a controlled underground environment, and is a great example of how farming is being modified to cater for a demanding and increasing population. Similar systems are already being used in other countries with the Chinese Government already investing in indoor vertical farms to feed its 1.4Billion people, and overcome problems such as smog,drought,water rationing and polluted soil. Aerponic farming with roots dangling in the air in indoor farms fed by nutrient mist has increased by 60% in the US over the past decade. Like Growing Underground, Aerofarms are growing greens under Computer controlled LED lights in climate controlled warehouses in vertical stacked steel towers in New York. Small indoor units are being developed for domestic use.
Growing Underground has itself already sought investment on the market on three occasions to help its expansion and development, and there are 7 more tunnels to fill and potential global expansion on the cards.
So will “the boys (and girls) all be singing and shouting for tomorrow” ? Let’s hope that with advances in farming like those described above, and with what I have experienced 33 metres under your feet in Clapham, then we will be able to feed our growing global population for longer than current predictions, and at the same time we will be protecting our planet rather than decimating it.
Visit Going Underground through the website or the Eventim App.
1a Carpenters Place, Clapham, London. sW4 7TD
