Cite as:
Wrigley N, Warm D, Margetts B, 2003, "Deprivation, diet, and food-retail access: findings from the Leeds 'food deserts' study" Environment and Planning A 35(1) 151 – 188
Download citation data in RIS format

Deprivation, diet, and food-retail access: findings from the Leeds 'food deserts' study

Neil Wrigley, Daniel Warm, Barrie Margetts

Received 21 June 2002; in revised form 29 August 2002

Abstract. Within a context of public policy debate in the United Kingdom on social exclusion, health inequalities, and food poverty, the metaphor of the 'food desert' caught the imagination of those involved in policy development. Drawing from a major cross-disciplinary investigation of food access and food poverty in British cities, the authors report in this paper findings from the first 'before/after' study of food consumption in a highly deprived area of a British city experiencing a sudden and significant change in its food-retail access. The study has been viewed as the first opportunity in the United Kingdom to assess the impact of a non-healthcare intervention (specifically a retail-provision intervention) on food-consumption patterns, and by extension diet-related health, in such a deprived, previously poor-retail-access community. The paper offers evidence of a positive but modest impact of the retail intervention on diet, and the authors discuss the ways in which their findings are potentially significant in the context of policy debate.

Restricted material:

 Full-text PDF size: 1076 Kb

 References  66 references, 16 with DOI links ()

Your computer (IP address: 50.17.90.164) has not been recognised as being on a network authorised to view the full text or references of this article. If you are a member of a university library that has a subscription to the journal, please contact your serials librarian (subscriptions information).