Philip Emanuel, a veteran of Covent Gardens old and new, has celebrated “50 years of marriage to the fruit business” with a host of friends and colleagues spanning his career.
Enticed into the wholesale fruit and vegetable trade by his legendary father “Legionnaire” Lou in October 1959, Emanuel worked in the market for 45 years, spending 14 of them as chairman of the Covent Garden Tenants’ Association (CGTA), and remains as passionate as ever, now working for Poupart Imports, half a century on from his first day at Barnett Emanuel.
Renowned for a fiery personality and an enthusiasm and dedication rarely matched in the trade, Emanuel said his colleagues, suppliers, customers and competitors have made his time in the trade hugely fulfilling. “I treasure the people I have met in my life,” he said. “I have always believed you should be straight with people, always be honest, and that we should treat one another the same - everyone is equal. The people in this business are real people.”
Proposing a toast to the “bridegroom of 50 years”, Laurence Olins, who himself recently celebrated 40 years in the business, and is chairman of the Poupart group of companies that now employs Emanuel, said: “Philip is one of a kind; an example to all of us. In the last 50 years, he has given all of us a lot of abuse, and some of us a lot of pain, but he is a force for good.”
Emanuel’s successor as CGTA chairman, Gary Marshall, also previously spent five years as his deputy chairman. He said: “His loyalty to Covent Garden never wavered, even though the market community rarely showed him the respect that his loyalty and support deserved. I thank him on behalf of all the tenants of Covent Garden, who owe him so much.”
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