Smithfield and Billingsgate market redevelopment plans begin – but traders’

Smithfield and Billingsgate food markets in London will be turned into new homes and a cultural destination under plans by their owner – but the future of the meat and fish traders housed on each site remains in doubt.

A council within the City of London Corporation, which is responsible for running the capital’s Square Mile, has voted to task a team to oversee the regeneration of 28 hectares (70 acres) of land across Greater London. However, it has not allocated any new money for the project.

The corporation decided in a separate vote last November to permanently close Smithfield and Billingsgate when it pulled the plug on a planned £740m relocation to a new site in the east of the capital at Dagenham, blaming rising costs.

The markets will continue trading in their current locations until 2028, but the closure will mark an end to centuries of meat and fish trading in the city.

The corporation, which is exceptionally wealthy compared with typical UK local authorities, has faced a backlash over the decision and objections to the plans to permanently close London’s ancient food markets and build on the sites.

The corporation has previously offered compensation to Smithfield and Billingsgate traders and said it would help individual businesses to find new locations, but the newly created team will also be tasked with helping to find a new site for the meat and fish markets.

Chris Hayward, the corporation’s policy chair, said: “A bright future lies ahead for these markets, and their redevelopment will contribute billions of pounds in economic growth, thousands of new jobs and thousands of new homes.”

The redevelopment of the Smithfield and Billingsgate sites will add £9.1bn in gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy in the coming years, according to the corporation’s calculations.

The history of a food market around Smithfield – close to Farringdon train station – goes back more than 800 years.

The London Museum is in the process of moving to part of the site. The corporation wants the new team, which will mostly include current corporation staff, to oversee a masterplan for the remainder of the site and its Victorian listed buildings, which will aim to turn it into a cultural hub, potentially housing bars, restaurants and venues.

Greg Lawrence, the chair of traders at Smithfield market, who has worked on the site since he joined at the age of 16 in 1966, said: “Smithfield market is a very special place. It will be emotional to leave the site, it has been people’s lives.”

Despite this, he is in favour of the markets moving to a new, modern location. “We have outgrown it now, there is no room for anyone to expand or grow,” he said.

The 5.6-hectare Billingsgate site close to the Canary Wharf financial district has been earmarked for housing, and the corporation believes 4,000 new homes could be built there.

The…