Rural Britain is becoming ‘food desert’ for lower-income families, study finds

Closure of local shops and poor public transport leaves households struggling to access healthy and affordable food

• ‘Absolutely beautiful’ but no shops for miles: the Cotswolds’ rural food deserts

Rural Britain is becoming a “food desert” for lower-income families as the closure of local shops and poor public transport leaves them at disproportionately high risk of hunger and cost of living pressures, new research shows.

Over half of households with an annual income of under £40,000 a year living in the countryside struggle to access affordable and healthy food including fresh fruit and vegetables, the Sheffield University study estimates.