A new location at London’s Royal Docks for meat and fish wholesale markets Smithfield and Billingsgate has been announced along with plans for the on-site school
A food school that will train London’s next generation of market traders and fruiterers will be located at the newly identified location for London’s fish and meat wholesale markets Billingsgate and Smithfield.
Albert Island at the Royal Docks, in Newham, south east London, is now the preferred new site for the two markets, which had been due to move to Dagenham before City of London members voted against it.
Fruit and veg wholesale market Spitalfields had also been set to move to Dagenham at a later date, after inital plans to create one large composite site for the three markets were shelved.
Local communities across the London Borough of Newham and the south east will benefit from the on-site food school, which will deliver education and training to train tomorrow’s market traders, butchers, fishmongers and fruiterers.
“By following through on our commitment to support traders to relocate, and to ensure our plans for new housing and culture at the vacated sites come to fruition, we are laying the foundations of future economic growth across the Square Mile, London and the UK,” said policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, Chris Hayward.
The move, which will also see the markets rebrand as New Billingsgate and New Smithfield, is subject to a successful Parliamentary Bill to end trading for the markets at their current sites, as well as planning permission from Newham Borough Council.
It is hoped the new location will secure the future of the historic wholesale markets inside the M25, as well as protect jobs in ports across the UK.
Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, said: “Billingsgate and Smithfield are two of the great historic markets that have been feeding Londoners for hundreds of years, and internationally renowned.
“For Newham to potentially be the new home for the markets over at our majestic Royal Docks would be a great honour and testament to the vision we have for our borough as a place to do business and drive inclusive growth.”
The markets will continue at Smithfield and Billingsgate until at least 2028.
