London’s oldest meat market is set to close having served the capital for over 900 years, after a City of London panel voted to end its plans to help relocate its traders to a new site in Dagenham Dock.
Smithfield market’s owners, the City of London Corporation, had planned to relocate Smithfield and Canary Wharf’s Billingsgate fish market to the east-end suburb, but on Tuesday the body’s Court of Common Council voted to scrap the move, after a recommendation from the Square Mile’s policy committee.
The committee had said cost overruns of the £1bn relocation plan meant its guidance was to close the market for good and not go ahead with the move to Dagenham.
Traders will continue their operations at both Smithfield and Billingsgate until at least 2028, the City of London Corporation said in a statement, during which time the Square Mile’s de facto local authority will help support the markets’ traders to identify new sites.
It added it was in “close dialogue” with both the traders and the wider wholesale market about the plans already.
Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London corporation, said: “This decision represents a positive new chapter for Smithfield and Billingsgate Markets in that it empowers Traders to build a sustainable future in premises that align with their long-term business goals.
“We’ve worked closely with the Traders and thank them for their input and understanding. We’re committed to making sure they have the financial support and guidance they need to transition seamlessly and successfully to new locations.”
The vote came despite The Times reporting earlier on Tuesday that three leading barristers who sit on the City’s hundred-strong court had written to the Corporation’s officials to warn them that the move might be illegal.
Gregory Jones KC, Suzanne Ornsby KC and William Upton KC argued in a letter that scrapping the previously floated relocation plan before a study into the markets’ importance to London’s food supply had been produced would be unlawful.
The City of London Corporation told The Times that its lawyers were “satisfied” with the move’s legality.
Smithfield’s origins can be traced back as far as the tenth century, and the City of London Corporation has run it since 1327, when Edward III gave it the right to operate food markets.