London’s wholesale markets are some of the most storied institutions in the city and their evolution is tied up with the capital city’s growth from Roman outpost to global metropolis. The recent announcement of plans to move all three City of London markets together to a new “composite” site signals the latest evolution in the capital’s food economy.
A move to a single site has long been touted, but it wasn’t until August this year that a public announcement from the City of London Corporation and consultants Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) was made. They revealed brief plans for a new location, featuring Spitalfields, Smithfields and Billingsgate markets on one spot, stating it would “secure their continued operational success”.
LSH said it had been instructed by the City Corporation to find a 100-acre site fit for a modern market, that will also house apprenticeship schools for fishmongers and butchers. But despite the promise of “prime facilities” some wholesalers are yet to let excitement get the better of them.
Mixed emotions
As traders in a fast-moving industry, tenants at Spitalfields are used to taking the ups with the downs, and the mood is optimistic, tempered with concern. “It’s a perfect opportunity to do something extraordinary. I’m afraid they are going to mess it up,” says former New Spitalfields Tenants’ Association chair Chris Hutchinson, head of Arthur Hutchinson Ltd.
Inspired by the likes of Rungis in Paris, which boasts all the mod cons for a wholesale market – including a train station in the middle of the site delivering produce from across France – Spitalfields’ traders agree that change will only be vindicated by something truly worthwhile.
“We struck lucky 27 years ago when we moved here; this site has proven itself to be perfect for fruit and veg trading,” Hutchinson says. “The last thing in the world we want to do is change that for the worse.”
With an excellent array of road connections, and well placed for London custom on the edge of Stratford, footfall has increased in the years since moving from the old Spitalfields site, meaning traders are nervous about disrupting their growth. “It’s got incredible access,” says Chris Scrivener of JT Kemsley.
As the last London wholesale market still on its original site, traders at Smithfield are also grappling with an emotional loss. Greg Lawrence, chairman of the meat market’s tenants’ association told iNews: “It’s head versus heart for me. Yes, the buildings are so expensive to maintain, but the market is steeped in so much history and culture, and that’s all changed. So what can we do?”
At Billingsgate fish market, traders are more enthusiastic than their counterparts, feeling that the time is right for a move, citing the lack of facilities and a desire for more customers. Jeff Steadman, of Chamberlain and Thelwell, says: “It makes sense, it will be a one-stop shop for customers, which is very attractive.”
Areas near Spitalfields like Dartford and Dagenham are already being whispered as possibilities, although the former is considered too far away. The neighbouring Hackney Marshes football pitches are seen as ideal, but any development there has already been ruled out owing to their public popularity.
Location, Location, Location
If safety and space are current concerns for traders at Spitalfields, transport and location are the two future concerns for all wholesalers. The new site needs to be in a so-called goldilocks zone – not too far away to put off customers, but also not so central that a lack of space and higher emission charges deter buyers. Finding a suitable spot may well be the hardest part of the whole enterprise.
“A lot of our customers are new pop-up wholesalers,”,” says Scrivener. “If they have to pay an extra £25 to come here because of emission charges, they’re not going to come. The new place has to be outside the low-emission zone.”
With the markets also currently several miles apart from each other, there is discrepancy between traders on where an ideal location would be. Traders at Billingsgate feel that somewhere near Spitalfields would be too far for them, while Spitalfields wholesalers don’t want to lose their road access by moving too far towards the centre.
Naturally, many tenants express a fear that such concerns will be overlooked by the City Corporation and developers, especially as New Covent Garden Market traders enter a legal battle with their developers over what they say are impractical designs for the new market.
“They have got to listen to the leaseholders from the start. They can consult all they like but will they listen to us when it comes down to it?” says Spitalfields’ tenant Clifford Hart, of Montgomery Wholesale.
Thinking big
One thing that stands out is a clear desire to aim high. Traders at Spitalfields are ambitious in their hopes for the new market, which ought to have pioneering designs. “It’s got to be eco-friendly, we can have solar powered roofs, rainwater harvesting, and use green electricity,” says Hart. “We need to be thinking 22nd century, not just 21st century.”
All agree that bold technological upgrades such as temperature-controlled units and green energy use ought to be integrated. The possibility of harmonising transport and deliveries to cut back on vehicle use is also another attractive possibility. The potential to use one truck to deliver produce to London from all three markets means less fees, less traffic and less emissions.
