Members of the Smithfield Market Tenants Association have vowed to stay put and fight any move to adopt the recommendations of the Review to close the market.
The report has been branded as 'so blatantly flawed it is unbelievable' by Association chairman Gregg Lawrence. Smithfield tenants, who number about 50, held a meeting on November 29 to examine the report.
'Smithfield has been our home for 800 years and we have just negotiated renewable 10-year, all inclusive leases with the Corporation of London,' said Lawrence. 'We have made major investment in our business and now run the most successful market in the UK.' He added that, due to the 10-year leases, there was nothing to fight, and described Saphir's suggestion of reducing markets to three as 'cloud cuckoo land'.
Gregg also suggested that the Corporation of London would oppose the abolition of the six-and-two-third mile law, although this has not been corroborated.
