After 800 years, meat market Smithfield is set for a moo-ve

IT’S been a meat market for more than 800 years – and is now one of the biggest in Europe. But Smithfield Market is set to leave London’s Square Mile after it emerged that it could be set for a new site in the east of the capital.

It is the only one of London’s three main markets that remains at its original location in the heart of the City. Billingsgate fish market moved from Lower Thames Street to Poplar, East London, in 1982, while Spitalfields fruit and veg market relocated to Leyton, East London, in 1991.

The Court of Common Council, the City of London Corporation’s decision-making body, has now agreed its preferred site for all three is Barking Reach in east London.

Catherine McGuinness, policy chairman at the Corporation, said: ‘We intend to use this new site to offer more modern facilities and space for traders to grow ...’ The proposed move follows a review into the markets’ future.

A public consultation is due to follow, after which the Corporation would propose bringing forward a Private Bill in November 2020 to pave the way for the markets’ relocation.