Vertical farms have made their way to Deptford to help combat poor air quality in the city.

The practice of vertical farming is where plots are stacked on top of each other in a warehouse or shipping container.

Start-up company Vertical Future opened the farms in early 2017 in a disused warehouse at the new Creekside development.

The first crops at the MiniCrops site are just now ready to harvest so locals could soon be eating fruit and vegetables grown in a warehouse in Deptford.

Jamie and Marie-Alexandrine Burrows, founders of Vertical Future, said: “We want to make cities a better place for our children, and our urban initiatives are long-term responses to the ongoing issues of urbanisation.

“All signs following our launch have been positive and launching MiniCrops is our first real milestone as a new business. We want to promote fast but sustainable growth that will make a real impact on our local communities around each site.”

MiniCrops will be holding a public open day on July 22 to officially launch its Deptford site and to discuss ideas for community working across south-east London. Places are available at www.minicrops.com/event