Before I became a cub reporter, I cut my commercial teeth in what is now known as Covent Garden, working for the best part of a year for importer Minnear, Munday & Miller, whose fascia board, like so many others, has become part of wholesale history.
We sold Australian top fruit bought on an Irrevocable Letter of Credit, required when the trees were still in blossom. Six months later, we received pallet loads of varieties such as Starking and Romes, alongside the agreed Granny Smith because, we were told by telex, the latter crop was lighter than expected. Any surge in demand from Japan, where prices were better, was purely coincidental!
One of the most profitable lines was pineapples from the Azores, packed in stout wooden crates, cosseted with wood wool and sold to retailers individually, because the fruit was still regarded as a luxury.
The real added value, however, was our thriving trade with pigeon fanciers, who bought the crates to ship their birds by rail to distant station masters who, noting the time, would release them homewards.
The golden rule, I remember, was that with the majority of the business carried out on commission, the cheque to the supplier for the week’s trading was always in the post every Friday night.
So even if getting up at the crack of dawn did not prove to be my forte, and I fled to Fleet Street to join Lockwood Press, I have always had a soft spot for the sector.
For these reasons alone, it will be interesting to assess the success of the Covent Garden Market Authority’s strategy to attract more suppliers to its site. While the initial drive in February will target traders of additional foodstuffs, fruit and veg has not been forgotten.
The timing could not be better, simply because farmers and growers have recently been more vocal over their dissatisfaction with the big retail battalions, and one must suspect are at least looking at alternatives that can move larger volumes than farmers’ markets. At the same time, it will be a judgement on the effectiveness of the South East Food Group Partnership, which has lent its support to the campaign.
In the current horticultural climate, perhaps it is worth remembering, as I can attest, that while buyers and sellers can never be on the same side, a great deal of benefit always used to come from mutual respect and an understanding of each others’ roles.
In fact, I believe this is what has helped markets remain remarkably resilient to external competition, in the face of the supermarket surge over the last 30-plus years. There were many who wrongly forecasted, if not their ultimate demise, the probability that their role as an effective trading entity would have faded into insignificance by now.
But the markets have long since taken a role in foodservice, and have now jumped on the trend towards the wider spectrum of foodstuffs, with the proviso that any new trade creates an environment that is both sustainable and profitable for all concerned.
As my wholesale mentor reminded me then, and the same rules apply today: “A market is not just built - it has to be made.”
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