Planning documents reveal that Hogwood’s intensive pig operation will shut down for good in September 2026, with the farm’s own planning statement explicitly citing Viva!’s investigations and relentless public pressure as a core reason the business became unviable.
The owner tried to sell to three major industry suppliers, including Cranswick. None of them would touch it. And with that, the countdown to the closure begins.
Introduction
Few farms in Britain have provoked such sustained public outrage as Hogwood. Since Viva! Campaigns first investigated the site in 2017, the farm has become a national symbol of the cruelty, neglect and industrialised suffering at the heart of factory pig farming.
Between 2017 and 2019, investigators for Viva! Campaigns recorded a catalogue of cruelty at Hogwood Farm in Warwickshire, including extreme overcrowding; routine mutilation; cruel farrowing crates; sick and dying pigs abandoned in gangways; the dead left to rot amongst the living; painful lacerations from brutal assaults and live cannibalism – but it wasn’t until workers were filmed hitting the pigs that industry players took action.
Following Viva!’s exposés in 2017 and 2018, Tesco attempted to reassure its customers that they take animal welfare ‘extremely seriously’ and that they expect producers to meet ‘stringent, industry-leading requirements’. But when Viva! Campaigns went back to Hogwood Farm in 2019, armed with hidden cameras, we revealed the pain and suffering continued.
In response to the damning footage Viva! obtained Red Tractor suspended their certification and Tesco dropped the farm with immediate effect.
The grim reality of factory farming is far from the ‘highest animal welfare standards in the world’ lie we’re being fed. It’s time to choose vegan.
Hogwood: a modern horror story
Viva! has recorded the entire Hogwood story in a groundbreaking documentary HOGWOOD: a modern horror story, which is available to stream on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play Movies and YouTube.
HOGWOOD: a modern horror story
You are invited to follow our intrepid group of undercover investigators as they expose shocking atrocities inside Hogwood farm. The conspiracy unfolds as we fight against some of the most powerful players in the animal agriculture industry. This is a gripping tale of negligence, greed and inaction, and our unrelenting fight to help the pigs trapped in Hogwood farm.
Viva! has investigated Hogwood pig farm four times from 2017 to 2019.
At the time of filming, Hogwood was a Red Tractor approved farm supplying supermarket giant Tesco via Cranswick Plc. It supposedly represented the best of British farming.
In 2019, after the final groundbreaking investigation which gained national media coverage, Hogwood was dropped by Red Tractor, Cranswick plc and Tesco. Despite this landslide victory and its subsequent closure in 2026, Hogwood Farm remains the most disturbing and harrowing investigation of them all.
Hogwood: Full Factsheet
Viva! Campaigns investigated Hogwood pig farm four times from 2017 to 2019, recording a catalogue of cruelty, including extreme overcrowding; routine mutilation; cruel farrowing crates; sick and dying pigs abandoned in gangways; the dead left to rot amongst the living; painful lacerations from brutal assaults and live cannibalism.
Despite the evidence, it took four years for Red Tractor and Tesco to drop the farm.
Videos
Our undercover footage speaks for itself.
Our investigation footage sparked over 300 demos outside Tesco stores across the UK. Over 70,000 people joined us in petitioning Tesco to drop Hogwood Horror Farm.
We gained national media coverage for each investigation, including featuring on Channel 4’s Dispatches. Our investigation footage shocked the nation.
It has been shared around the world and has created numerous new vegans.
We urge you to watch the footage now.
TAKE ACTION
