Beginning work at New Covent Garden Market at the fresh-faced age of 19, if there is one man who can speak from experience, it is Peter Fowler. Despite being officially retired, the pull back, to what has been a livelihood for over 50 years, is too great, and Fowler can still be found most mornings at the C&C offices.

Since taking over C&C Fruits back in 1986 in a now legendary deal with previous owner Lenny Cooper, Dulwich-born Fowler, who has been involved within British wholesale since the 1960s, has gone on to develop the business into one of the most successful catering wholesalers in the capital with the firm specialising in selling chef-friendly exotic fruit.

Fowler admits that the journey from Dulwich to Buckingham Palace has been a nerve-wracking one. 'It was very humbling when I first got the news, but I can't lie and say I wasn't nervous about meeting the Queen,' says Fowler with a wry smile. 'It was an amazing day, but there are plenty of people at the market and involved in British wholesale who deserve to be honoured so I try to keep well grounded. I hope this is the start of more New Year's Honours for the fresh produce industry.'

Over the years, Fowler says he has seen customers of C&C Fruits, including prestigious contracts supplying the likes of Selfridges and Harrods in the past, change their buying habits considerably. 'At the moment we are importing a lot of cresses (C&C has over 70 varieties) from Holland, and I've also noticed a big trend towards self-ripening avocados; we couldn't give them away for free five years ago and now they are flying off the shelves. Caterers want more rustic, colourful and exotic ingredients that appearance-wise look fresh off the tree and out of the ground. We must cater to that.'

Fowler insists that the Del Boy practices – perhaps unfairly – attributed to wholesalers in the past have no place in today's industry. 'To succeed as a wholesaler nowadays you have got to be extremely keen and service minded. In the past if produce left the warehouse and arrived in poor condition that was the buyer's problem. That behaviour doesn't exist in today's market.'

Citing the growth of the supermarkets' fresh produce offer and an increase in inputs as some of the main reasons British wholesale isn't prospering as much as in the past, Fowler remains outspoken. 'If you look at the government, they want to feed someone in hospital for just £1.35 a day and in a prison £1.60 a day and then they expect the wholesale and catering trades to supply produce to cover the cost. It is ridiculous.'

On the subject of the government, Fowler has seen dozens of ministers visit the government-owned market over the years as part of his former roles as chairman and president of the Covent Garden Market Tenants Association. And with negotiations still ongoing over the logistics of how the redevelopment will take place, Fowler admits that the CGTA is still at odds with the government, Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) and its development partner Vinci St Modwen (VSM) despite recently witnessing a map of the new layout. Full of praise for Pam Alexander, the new chair of Covent Garden Market, who Fowler describes as an 'extremely astute woman,' and current CGTA chairman Gary Marshall, he insists that an agreement isn't far away.

'We are still discussing the de-camp of the old market into the new one. As tenants we know what works best in terms of the layout and we feel our views have not been listened to enough in terms of the new design. Hopefully everyone can come to an agreement. I don't think that it is too far off. Unfortunately a lot of these ministers don't stay in office for too long and are usually caught up in some sort of scandal. We are not in the arena for politics, we are in the arena for our families and we want a market which will benefit traders and honour the history.'

In the coming years, Fowler envisages the market hybridising its offer and becoming much more like Rungis in Paris, which combines retail and wholesale markets under one roof. He explains: 'My hope is to see a market that integrates within the whole community as we need to interact more with the man on the street.

'There needs to be a night market and a day market; a retail outlet and wholesale outlet. We must embrace every aspect that makes traders here unique from meat and fish to wine and produce, and market it all together as one single market.'

Asking Fowler, who is approaching his 70s, if he ever imagines a time where his long-suffering wife Chrissie won't hear stories about the day's trade, he is as assured as ever in his response. 'I'm very fortunate because my wife is my greatest supporter in the world and she knows how much I love doing this. I'm convinced that if you cut me open right now, you'd find fruit!' —