City Farm is a farm charity based in Bucknall Park, Stoke-on-Trent. We aim to re-open the old farm that used to sit in the park and was a staple of the community for more than 30 years until it’s closure in 2011 due to budget cuts. The farm was an incredible source of education, volunteer experience and work placements for people with disabilities until the council closed it with the view to save £143,000 a year. Since then the farm has sadly been left abandoned, and we have had no use from it for over a decade as a community that once loved it.

Fortunately, thanks to the voluntary efforts of the City Farm Charity team, we have decided to give it out best shot at re-opening the once beloved farm. We have worked hard since 2018 putting together business plans, acquiring planning permissions, attending council meetings and discussing with the local community all in an effort to get the council to agree to let us take on the farm. In August of 2021, we finally got the green light! All of our hard work has paid off and we have been granted a lease for 20 years with a 5 year free period while we build ourselves up and begin to fund raise.

Now, in Winter of 2022, we are finalising some details and reports before we get the keys and can finally get started on the wonderful project. We have been recruiting volunteers for a few months and have had a wonderful out-pour of support from the local community. We couldn’t be happier with the result, and we cannot wait to get started and show you what we can do.

We aim to re-open the farm before 2024 to the public, offering a free to enter attraction that will surely beat the 90,000 visitors per year the farm had before it closed down.