Tenants at New Spitalfields are extremely grateful to landlord the Corporation of London for its legal action over face-to-face selling of fish and meat at New Covent Garden despite new Corporation Markets Committee chairman Stanley Ginsburg surprise call for an end to the court proceedings between the government and the Corporation.
The two parties are awaiting another appeal in March over the right of New Covent Garden wholesalers to broaden their range, having already gone through a lengthy and costly process of claims and counterclaims. “It should never have got this far,” Ginsburg said, adding that the March hearing should be the end of the matter. “The only people winning from this are the lawyers.”
Tenants association president Chris Hutchinson said: “We are extremely lucky and very grateful that up to now our landlord has taken the matter so seriously with the corporation adamant to fight it. We have nothing against Covent Garden, all we want is a level playing field we want to have the same rights as them when it comes to face-to-face selling.”
Ginsburg added that the Corporation has “no intention of moving or closing any of our markets”. He was speaking at a dinner in honour of his predecessor Daniel Caspi, who was the first chairman to preside over one committee for all three markets. “The future of London’s markets lies in some shape or form in composite markets, for the long-term benefit of traders and their families,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hutchinson is keen to see Covent Garden tenants take control of their market. “I wish [tenants’ association president] Gary Marshall and all his tenants all the very best in striking a deal with government,” said Hutchinson.
“It does not make a lot of difference to Spitalfields - we are already an incredibly successful market and are operating at almost full capacity as it is, so we could not take on much more trade. We are lucky and are happy with that situation. Western International is getting ready to relocate to a new site and we wish them all the very best with that, and if New Covent Garden tenants get the deal they want with the government and their destiny is in their own hands, then that will be all of London’s markets sorted.”
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