New Spitalfields has dubbed itself the “Olympic Market” after London was successful with its bid for the 2012 Games last week.
The east London wholesale centre will lie just outside the boundary of the planned Olympics site and, said tenants’ association secretary Jim Heppel, the market will benefit from the commercial opportunities that surround both the long-term regeneration of its existing catchment area and the games themselves.
“The Olympic games will be good news for Spitalfields tenants and we are the natural Olympic Market,” said Heppel. “We look forward to being part of an event that will enthuse the whole nation and New Spitalfields must ensure that it benefits from the various commercial opportunities that will undoubtedly arise.”
David Smith, markets manager at the Corporation of London, added: “We are delighted that London will host the Olympics. It is great for the city and from all of our markets’ point of view, it has to be a tremendous chance to expand.
“The workers who build the Olympic site, the athletes and the visitors from around the world will all need feeding, and the contracts are all up for grabs in the next seven years. As it is right on our doorstep, tenants at New Spitalfields are in a very good position to take advantage of the opportunities - it is up to them to make the most of them.”
The Hackney Food group was established before the bid to analyse the commercial potential for local food businesses should the Olympics come to London. New Spitalfields superintendent Mike Culverwell sat on the working party and said he expects efforts to be redoubled now.
However, widespread rumours of the impending relocation of the market have been greatly exaggerated, Culverwell and Heppel both said. Speculation that the Temple Mills site in Leytonstone would make way for Olympic facilities - and potential venues such as Enfield and Dartford were doing the rounds in the wholesale sector - is “totally unfounded”.
Smith said: “People have wrongly assumed that New Spitalfields is in the middle of the Olympic site. It is not, there are no plans to move and we see only the opportunity for the market to become more vibrant and successful in the years to come.”
“New Spitalfields is a charter market,” said Heppel, “and an Act of Parliament would therefore need to be passed to remove the market from this site. No compulsory purchase is possible.
“There are no plans to include the market in any redevelopment.”
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