On any given Friday night, the glow of a chicken shop sign is as familiar on British high streets as the sound of laughter spilling out of pubs. These brightly lit symbols of cheap, quick food have become a cultural staple — especially in urban areas where affordability and convenience often trump all else. But the true cost of this convenience is paid not at the till, but by the birds themselves, our health and the planet.
London has the dubious honour of hosting the highest concentration of chicken shops in the UK — 5.68 per 100,000 residents. As demand for cheap meat continues to soar, so too does the rise of mega farms — industrial facilities where tens of thousands of birds are crammed into ammonia-filled sheds with barely enough space to stretch a wing; their bodies coated in excrement or burns from lying in urine.
Selectively bred to grow too fat, too quickly, “broiler” chickens struggle to stand on legs too weak to support their grossly distorted frames. At just six weeks old—barely a fraction of their natural lifespan—they’re snatched up and shoved into crates, then loaded into lorries. For most, it’s the first time they glimpse sunlight, but shortly after, they’ll be swinging upside down and bleeding out their necks at the slaughterhouse.
When I interview people coming out of chicken shops, they invariably tell me they’re hungry, broke, or just craving “comfort food”.
The smell of fried food and the lure of a £3.99 meal deal drown out any thought of the lives behind the meat. When I interview people coming out of chicken shops, they invariably tell me the same thing: they’re not thinking about nutrition or ethics — they’re hungry, broke, or just craving “comfort food”. And in that moment, the chicken, and her short, grim life and violent death, is forgotten.
But when I show those same people footage of chickens in UK farms, they are repulsed. We agree, that’s not right. In fact, polls show that up to 96% of Brits oppose factory farming. But in the UK, there are now more than twice as many chickens confined in these farms than all wild birds combined.
Chickens are intelligent, social animals
Chickens are intelligent, social animals. Clever and curious, chatty chickens enjoy complex social hierarchies. Like us, they form friendships, experience REM sleep and dream in colour. It’s desperately sad that more people know how chickens taste than their hobbies.
And this system harms more than just the birds. Like red meat, chicken flesh contains fat and cholesterol and no fibre or carbohydrate. Meat consumption can harm our gut biome, bowel health, and heart. Chicken megafarms are churning out waste that pollutes our air and rivers. Long-term, our obsession with bird flesh may usher in the next pandemic: avian influenza (bird flu). Virologists warn it’s close to achieving human contagion.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control labelled the virus “an increasing threat, with the potential to adapt to humans and trigger future pandemics”. Given that over 19,000 Londoners died with Covid and 300,000 more have yet to recover financially from lockdown losses, it’s safe to say that we’re not ready for these chickens to come home to roost.
We need to start asking harder questions — not just about what we eat, but about who we’re eating. The suffering of billions of birds is unrelenting, and projected to worsen. But it doesn’t have to be this way. PETA billboards and bus ads, launched in Stockwell and Brixton, remind shoppers of the individual behind the wings.
Wholly vegan chicken shops like Chickenish and Temple of Seitan specialise in cruelty-free drumsticks and nuggets, while an increasing number of outlets — including Chicken Shop and Slim Chickens — offer vegan chicken options delivering the full flavour experience.
Every time we choose a meal, we have an opportunity to cast a vote against cruelty. Going vegan means going easier on the planet and everyone we share it with. It means grabbing the vegan option at KFC or Nandos, and giving chickens a long overdue break. It’s called giving a cluck — let’s make London famous for it.
Dawn Carr is Vice President of Vegan Corporate Projects at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA
