| Smithfield | |
|---|---|
 Smithfield Meat Market | |
  Smithfield Location withinGreater London | |
| Sui generis | |
| Administrative area | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | LONDON |
| Postcode district | EC1 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | City of London |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°31′08″N0°06′07″W / 51.519°N 0.102°W /51.519; -0.102 | |
Smithfield, properly known asWest Smithfield,[1] is a district located inCentral London, part ofFarringdon Without, the most westerlyward of theCity of London, England.
Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such asSt Bartholomew's Hospital andlivery halls, including those ofthe Butchers' andHaberdashers' Companies. The area is best known for the Smithfieldmeat market, which dates from the 10th century, has been in continuous operation sincemedieval times,[2] and is now London's only remainingwholesalemarket. Smithfield's principal street is calledWest Smithfield.[3][4] Each summer, from the 12th century to the 19th century the area hostedBartholomew Fair, and the area also contains the City's oldest surviving church building,St Bartholomew-the-Great, dating from 1123 (most City churches were destroyed in theGreat Fire of 1666).
The area is located just beyond theNew Gate and formerlyits prison which held condemned prisoners. In former centuries, especially prior to the establishment ofTyburn, the area bore witness to manyexecutions of heretics and political rebels,[5] as well as Scottish knightSir William Wallace, andWat Tyler, leader of thePeasants' Revolt, among many other religious reformers and dissenters (later on, public executions were generally moved out toTyburn, until being moved back to the prison).
The present Smithfield Market, aGrade II listed-covered market building, was designed by Victorian architectSir Horace Jones in the second half of the 19th century, and is the dominant architectural feature of the area.[6] Some of its original market premises fell into disuse in the late 20th century and faced the prospect of demolition. TheCorporation of London'spublic enquiry in 2012[7] drew widespread support for anurban regeneration plan intent upon preserving Smithfield's historical identity.[8]
In the Middle Ages, it was a broadgrassy area known asSmooth Field, located beyondLondon Wall and stretching to the eastern bank of theRiver Fleet. Given its ease of access tograzing andwater, Smithfield established itself as London'slivestockmarket, remaining so for almost 1,000 years. Many localtoponyms are associated with the livestock trade: while some street names (such as "Cow Cross Street" and "Cock Lane") remain in use, many more (such as "Chick Lane", "Duck Lane", "Cow Lane", "Pheasant Court", "Goose Alley"[9]) have disappeared from themap after the major redevelopment of the area in theVictorian era.
In 1123, the area nearAldersgate was granted by King Henry I for the foundation of St Bartholomew's Priory at the request ofPrior Rahere, in thanks for his being nursed back to good health. The Priory exercised its right to enclose land between the vicinity of the boundary withAldersgate Without (to the east), Long Lane (to the north) and modern-dayNewgate Street (to the south), erecting its main western gate which opened onto Smithfield, and apostern on Long Lane. By facing the open space of Smithfield and by having 'its back to' the buildings liningAldersgate Street, the Priory site has left a continuing legacy of limited connectivity between the Smithfield area and Aldersgate Street.
The Priory thereafter held themanorial rights to hold weeklyfairs, which initially took place in its outer court on the site of present-dayCloth Fair,[10] leading to "Fair Gate".[11]
An additional annual celebration, theBartholomew Fair, was established in 1133 by theAugustinian canons. Over time, this became one of London's pre-eminentsummer fairs, opening each year on 24 August. A trading event forcloth and other goods as well as being a pleasure forum, the four-day festival drew crowds from allstrata of English society.
In 1855, however, theCity authorities closed Bartholomew Fair as they considered it to have degenerated into a magnet for debauchery and public disorder.[12][13]
In 1348,Walter de Manny rented 13 acres (0.05 km2) of land atSpital Croft, north of Long Lane, from theMaster andBrethren of St Bartholomew's Hospital, for a graveyard and plague pit for victims of theBlack Death. A chapel and hermitage were constructed, renamedNew Church Haw; but in 1371, this land was granted for the foundation of the Charterhouse, originally aCarthusianmonastery.[14]
Nearby and to the north of this demesne, theKnights Hospitaller established aCommandery at Clerkenwell, dedicated to St John in the mid-12th century. In 1194 they received aCharter fromKing Richard I granting theOrder formal privileges.[15] LaterAugustiniancanonesses established the Priory of St Mary, north of theKnights of St John property.[16]
By the end of the 14th century, these religious houses were regarded by City traders as interlopers – occupying what had previously beenpublic open space near one of theCity gates. On numerous occasions vandals damaged the Charterhouse, eventually demolishing its buildings. By 1405, a stout wall was built to protect the property and maintain the privacy of the Order, particularly its church where men and women alike came to worship.[14]
The religious houses were dissolved in theReformation,[17] and their lands broken up.The Priory Church of St John remains,[18] as doesSt John's Gate.[19]John Houghton (later canonized by Pope Paul VI asSt John Houghton),[20] The prior of Charterhouse went toThomas Cromwell, accompanied by two other local priors, seeking anoath of supremacy that would be acceptable to theircommunities. Instead they were imprisoned in theTower of London, and on 4 May 1535, they were taken toTyburn and hanged – becoming the firstCatholicmartyrs of the Reformation. On 29 May, the remaining twenty monks and eighteen lay brothers were forced to swear the oath of allegiance to King Henry VIII; the ten who refused were taken toNewgate Prison and left to starve.[21]
With the monks expelled, Charterhouse was requisitioned and remained as a private dwelling until its reestablishment byThomas Sutton in 1611 as a charitable foundation; it was the basis of the school namedCharterhouse andalmshouses known asSutton's Hospital in Charterhouse on its former site. The school was relocated toGodalming in 1872. Until 1899 Charterhouse wasextra-parochial;[22] that year it became acivil parish incorporated in theMetropolitan Borough of Finsbury.[23] Some of the property was damaged duringThe Blitz, but it remains largely intact. Part of the site is now occupied byBarts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry.
From its inception, the Priory of St Bartholomew treated thesick. After the Reformation it was left with neither income nor monastic occupants but, following a petition by the City Corporation,Henry VIII refounded it in December 1546, as the "House of the Poore in West Smithfield in the suburbs of the City of London of Henry VIII's Foundation".Letters Patent were presented to theCity, granting property and income to the new foundation the following month. King Henry VIII'ssergeant-surgeon,Thomas Vicary, was appointed as thehospital's firstsuperintendent.[24] The King Henry VIII Gate, which opens onto West Smithfield, was completed in 1702 and remains the hospital's main entrance.[25]
The Priory's principal church, St Bartholomew-the-Great, was reconfigured after thedissolution of the monasteries, losing almost all of itsnave. Reformed as anAnglicanparish church, its parish boundaries were limited to the site of the ancient priory and a small tract of land between the church and Long Lane. The parish of St Bartholomew the Great was designated as aLiberty, responsible for the upkeep and security of its fabric and the land within its boundaries. With the advent of street lighting, mains water, and sewerage during the Victorian era, maintenance of such an ancientparish with so few parishioners became increasingly uneconomical after the Industrial Revolution. In 1910, it agreed to be incorporated by theCorporation of London which guaranteed financial support and security. Great St Barts' present parish boundary includes just10 feet (3.048 m) of Smithfield – possibly delineating a formerright of way.[11]
After theReformation, a separateparish likewise dedicated toSt Bartholomew was granted in favour ofSt Bartholomew's Hospital; namedSt Bartholomew-the-Less, it remained under the hospital'spatronage, unique in theChurch of England, until 1948, when the hospital was nationalized in theNational Health Service.[26] The churchbenefice has since been joined again with its ancient partner, the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great.[27]
Following the diminished influence of the ancient Priory, predecessor of the two parishes of St Bartholomew, disputes began to arise over rights to tithes and taxes payable by lay residents who claimed allegiance with the nearby and anciently associated parish ofSt Botolph Aldersgate – an unintended consequence and legacy of King Henry VIII's religious reforms.[11]
Smithfield and its market, situated mostly in theparish ofSt Sepulchre, was founded in 1137, and was endowed byPrior Rahere, who also founded St Barts. The ancient parish of St Sepulchre extended north toTurnmill Street, toSt Paul's Cathedral andLudgate Hill in the south, and along the eastbank of theFleet (now the route ofFarringdon Street). St Sepulchre's Tower contains the twelve "bells of Old Bailey", referred to in the nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons". Traditionally, the Great Bell was rung to announce the execution of aprisoner atNewgate.
As a largeopen space close to the City, Smithfield was a popular place for public gatherings. In 1374Edward III held a seven-daytournament at Smithfield, for the amusement of his belovedAlice Perrers. Possibly the most famousmedieval tournament at Smithfield was that commanded in 1390 byRichard II.[28]Jean Froissart, in his fourth book ofChronicles, reported that sixty knights would come to London to tilt for two days, "accompanied by sixty noble ladies, richly ornamented and dressed".[29] The tournament was proclaimed byheralds throughout England, Scotland, Hainault,Germany, Flanders and France, so as to rival the jousts given byCharles of France atParis a few years earlier, upon the arrival of his consortIsabel of Bavaria.[30]Geoffrey Chaucer supervised preparations for the tournament as a clerk to the King.[31] It is told that, between 1389 and 1394, another large tournament was celebrated in the city[32] which spawned thePortuguese legend of theTwelve of England, where twelve Portuguese knights were called to defend the honour of several ladies-in-waiting ofJohn of Gaunt's castillian wifeConstance of Castile.[33] At the time, John of Gaunt's daughterPhilipa of Lancaster was married toJohn of Aviz,King of Portugal, lending credence to the story, although how much and which parts of it are true is still debated.
Along withTyburn, Smithfield was for centuries the main site for thepublic execution ofheretics anddissidents in London. The Scottish noblemanSir William Wallace was executed in 1305 at West Smithfield. The market was themeeting place prior to thePeasants' Revolt and where the Revolt's leader,Wat Tyler, was slain bySir William Walworth,Lord Mayor of London on 15 June 1381.[34]
Religious dissenters (Catholics as well as otherProtestant denominations such asAnabaptists) weresentenced to death in this area during theCrown's changing course of religious orientation started byKing Henry VIII. About fifty Protestants andreligious reformers, known as theMarian martyrs, were executed at Smithfield during the reign ofMary I.
G. K. Chesterton observed ironically:
It is foolish, generally speaking, for a philosopher to set fire to another philosopher in Smithfield Market because they do not agree in their theory of the universe. That was done very frequently in the last decadence of theMiddle Ages, and it failed altogether in its object.
— Heretics 1905
On 17 November 1558, several Protestant heretics were saved by a royal herald's timely announcement that Queen Mary had died shortly before thewooden faggots were to be lit at the SmithfieldStake. UnderEnglish Lawdeath warrants were commanded bySign Manual (the personal signature of theMonarch), invariably upon ministerial recommendation, which if unexercised by the time of a Sovereign's death required renewed authority. In this caseQueen Elizabeth did not approve the executions, thus freeing the Protestants. During the 16th century, the Smithfield site was also the place of execution ofswindlers andcoin forgers, who wereboiled to death in oil.
By the 18th century, the "Tyburn Tree" (near the present-dayMarble Arch) became the main place for public executions in London.[35] After 1785, executions were again moved, this time to the gates ofNewgate Prison, just to the south of Smithfield.
The Smithfield area emerged largely unscathed by theGreat Fire of London in 1666, which was abated near theFortune of War Tavern, at the junction ofGiltspur Street and Cock Lane, where thestatue of theGolden Boy of Pye Corner is located. In the late 17th century several residents of Smithfield emigrated to North America, where they founded thetown ofSmithfield, Rhode Island.
Until the 19th century, the area included boundary markers known as the West Smithfield Bars (or more simply, Smithfield Bars).[36] These marked the northern boundary of the City of London and were placed at a point approximating to where modernCharterhouse Street meets St John Street, which was historically the first stretch of theGreat North Road. The Bars were on the route of the formerFagswell Brook, a tributary of the Fleet, which marked the City's northern boundary in the area.
The Bars are first documented in 1170[36] and 1197,[37] and were a site of public executions.[38]
Since the late 1990s, Smithfield and neighbouringFarringdon have developed a reputation for being a cultural hub for up-and-coming professionals, who enjoy its bars, restaurants and nightclubs.
Nightclubs such asFabric andTurnmills pioneered the area's reputation for trendynight life, attracting professionals from nearbyHolborn,Clerkenwell and theCity on weekdays. At weekends, the clubs and bars in the area, havinglate licences, draw people into the area from outside London too.
Smithfield has also become a venue for sporting events. Until 2002 Smithfield hosted the midnight start of the annualMiglia Quadrato car treasure hunt, but with the increased night club activity around Smithfield, theUHULMC (a motoring club) decided to move the event's start toFinsbury Circus. Since 2007, Smithfield has been the chosen site of an annual event dedicated toroad bicycle racing known as theSmithfield Nocturne.[39]
Number 1, West Smithfield is head office of theChurches Conservation Trust.
Meat has been traded at Smithfield Market for more than 800 years, making it one of the oldestmarkets in London.[40] Alivestock market occupied the site as early as the 10th century.
In 1174 the site was described byWilliam Fitzstephen as:
a smooth field where every Friday there is a celebrated rendezvous of fine horses to be traded, and in another quarter are placed vendibles of the peasant, swine with their deep flanks, and cows and oxen of immense bulk.[40]
Costs, customs and rules were meticulously laid down. For instance, for an ox, a cow or a dozen sheep one could get 1 penny.[41]The livestock market expanded over the centuries to meet demand from the growing population of the City. In 1710, themarket was surrounded by a wooden fence containing the livestock within the market. Until the market's abolition, the Gate House at Cloth Fair ("Fair Gate") employed achain (le cheyne) on market days.[11]Daniel Defoe referred to the livestock market in 1726 as being "without question, the greatest in the world",[42] and data available appear to corroborate his statement.
Between 1740 and 1750 the average yearly sales at Smithfield were reported to be around 74,000 cattle and 570,000 sheep.[43] By the middle of the 19th century, in the course of a single year 220,000 head of cattle and 1,500,000 sheep would be "violently forced into an area of five acres, in the very heart of London, through its narrowest and most crowded thoroughfares".[44] The volume of cattle driven daily to Smithfield started to raise major concerns.
TheGreat North Road traditionally began at Smithfield Market, with St John Street and Islington High Street forming the initial stages. Road mileages were taken fromHicks Hall, a short distance up St John Street, some 90 metres north of theWest Smithfield Bars. The site of the hall continued to be used as the starting point for mileages even after it was demolished soon after 1778.[45] The road followed St John Street, and continued north, eventually leading toEdinburgh. Using the former site of the hall as the starting point ended in 1829, with the establishment of theGeneral Post Office atSt Martin's-le-Grand, which became the new starting point, with the route followingGoswell Road before joining Islington High Street and then re-joining the historic route.
In modern days, the market was known for itsChristmas Eve meat auction, where buyers thronged to buy surplus produce in cash-only bargain transactions.[46]
In theVictorian period, pamphlets started circulating in favour of the removal of the livestock market and its relocation outside of the City, due to its extremely poor hygienic conditions[43] as well as the brutal treatment of the cattle.[47] The conditions at the market in the first half of the 19th century were often described as a major threat to public health:
Of all the horrid abominations with which London has been cursed, there is not one that can come up to that disgusting place, West Smithfield Market, for cruelty, filth, effluvia, pestilence, impiety, horrid language, danger, disgusting and shuddering sights, and every obnoxious item that can be imagined; and this abomination is suffered to continue year after year, from generation to generation, in the very heart of the most Christian and most polished city in the world.[48]
In 1843, theFarmer's Magazine published a petition signed by bankers, salesmen, butchers,aldermen and City residents against further expansion of the meat market, arguing that livestock markets had been systematically banned since the Middle Ages in other areas of London:
Our ancestors appear, in sanitary matters, to have been wiser than we are. There exists, amongst the Rolls of Parliament of the year 1380, a petition from the citizens of London, praying that, for the sake of the public health, meat should not be slaughtered nearer than "Knyghts-brigg", under penalty, not only of forfeiting such animals as might be killed in the "butcherie", but of a year's imprisonment. The prayer of this petition was granted, and its penalties were enforced during several reigns.[44]
Thomas Hood wrote in 1830 anOde to the Advocates for the Removal of Smithfield Market, applauding those "philanthropic men" who aim at removing to a distance the "vile Zoology" of the market and "routing that great nest of Hornithology [sic]".[49]Charles Dickens criticised locating a livestock market in the heart of thecapital in his 1851 essayA Monument of French Folly drawing comparisons with the French market atPoissy outside Paris:
Of a great Institution like Smithfield, [the French] are unable to form the least conception. A Beast Market in the heart of Paris would be regarded an impossible nuisance. Nor have they any notion ofslaughter-houses in the midst of acity. One of these benighted frog-eaters would scarcely understand your meaning, if you told him of the existence of such a British bulwark.[50]
Anact of Parliament, theMetropolitan Market Act 1851 (14 & 15 Vict. c. 61), was passed, under the provisions of which a newcattle market should be constructed at Copenhagen Fields,Islington.[51] TheMetropolitan Cattle Market opened in 1855, leaving West Smithfield as waste ground for about ten years during the construction of the new market.[52]
| Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market Act 1860 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to establish at Smithfield in the City of London a Metropolitan Market for Meat, Poultry, and other Provisions; and for other Purposes connected therewith. |
| Citation | 23 & 24 Vict. c. cxciii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 13 August 1860 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by |
|
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market (Borrowing) Act 1864 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act to amend the Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market Act, 1860, and other Acts, with respect to the borrowing of Money; and for other Purposes. |
| Citation | 27 & 28 Vict. c. xv |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 28 April 1864 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends |
|
| London Central Markets Act 1886 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act for empowering the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London to make further and better provisions with reference to the London Central Markets; and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 49 & 50 Vict. c. viii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 16 April 1886 |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| London Central Markets Act 1875 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
| |
| Long title | An Act for the establishment of a Fruit, Vegetable, and Flower Market in the City of London, and the extension of the Metropolitan Meat and Poultry Market there, and the abolition of Farringdon Market; and for other purposes. |
| Citation | 38 & 39 Vict. c. lix |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 14 June 1875 |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The present Smithfieldmeat market onCharterhouse Street was established byact of Parliament, theMetropolitan Meat and Poultry Market Act 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. cxciii).[53] It is alarge market with permanent buildings, designed byarchitectSir Horace Jones, who also designedBillingsgate andLeadenhall markets. Work on theCentral Market, inspired by Italian architecture, began in 1866 and was completed in November 1868 at a cost of £993,816 (£113 million as of 2023).[40][54]
TheGrade II listed main wings (known asEast andWest Market) are separated by theGrand Avenue, a wide roadway roofed by an elliptical arch with decorations incast iron. At the two ends of the arcade, four prominent statues represent London,Edinburgh,Liverpool andDublin; they depict bronze dragons charged with theCity'sarmorial bearings. At the corners of the market, four octagonal pavilion towers were built, each with adome displaying carved stonegriffins.
As the market was being built, acut and cover railway tunnel was constructed below street level to create a triangular junction with the railway betweenBlackfriars andKings Cross throughSnow Hill Tunnel. The tunnel was closed in 1916, but it has been reopened[55] and is now used byThameslink rail services.[56] The construction of extensiverailway sidings, beneath Smithfield Park, facilitated the transfer of animal carcasses to itscold store, and directly up to the meat market vialifts. These sidings closed in the 1960s. They are now used as a car park, accessed via a cobbled descent at the centre of Smithfield Park. Today, much of the meat is delivered to market by road.
The first extension of Smithfield's meat market was built between 1873 and 1876 with the construction of thePoultry Market immediately west of the Central Market. Arotunda was built at the centre of the old Market Field (now West Smithfield), comprising gardens, a fountain and a ramped carriageway to the station beneath the market building. Further buildings were subsequently added to the market. TheGeneral Market, built between 1879 and 1883, was intended to replace the oldFarringdon Market located nearby and established for the sale of fruit and vegetables when the earlierFleet Market was cleared to enable the laying out of Farringdon Street between 1826–1830.[57]
A further block (also known asAnnexe Market orTriangular Block,) consisting of two separate structures (theFish Market and theRed House), was built between 1886 and 1899. TheFish Market, built byJohn Mowlem & Co.,[58] was completed in 1888, one year after Sir Horace Jones' death. TheRed House, with its imposingred brick andPortland stone façade, was built between 1898 and 1899 for theLondon Central Markets Cold Storage Co. Ltd.. It was one of the firstcold stores to be built outside theLondon docks, and continued to serve Smithfield Market until the mid-1970s.[57]
During theSecond World War, a large underground cold store at Smithfield was the theatre of secret experiments led byDr Max Perutz onpykrete, a mixture of ice andwoodpulp, believed to be possibly tougher thansteel. Perutz's work,[59] inspired byGeoffrey Pyke and part ofProject Habakkuk, was meant to test the viability of pykrete as a material to construct floatingairstrips in theAtlantic to allow refuelling ofcargo planes in support ofAdmiral the Earl Mountbatten's operations.[60][61] The experiments were carried out by Perutz and his colleagues in a refrigerated meat locker in a Smithfield Market butcher's basement, behind a protective screen of frozen animal carcasses.[62] These experiments became obsolete with the development of longer-rangeaircraft, resulting in abandonment of the project.
Towards the very end of the Second World War, aV-2 rocket struck the north side ofCharterhouse Street, near the junction withFarringdon Road (1945). The explosion caused massive damage to the market buildings, affected the railway tunnel structure below, and caused more than 110 deaths.[63][64]
On 23 January 1958, a fire broke out in the basement of Union Cold Storage Co at theSmithfield Poultry Market. The fire spread throughout the maze of basements under the market and burned for three days. Over 1,700 fire fighters with 389 fire engines were required to bring the blaze under control. Two firefighters were killed and 50 were injured or treated for smoke inhalation. The market was largely destroyed, and large portions not directly affected by fire collapsed as basements caved in. The introduction ofbreathing apparatus by theLondon Fire Brigade was a direct result of the fire.
A red plaque commemorating the two firefighters who died was unveiled at the market on the 60th anniversary of the fire.[65][66] A replacement building was designed bySir Thomas Bennett in 1962–63,[67] with a reinforced concrete frame, and external cladding of dark blue brick. It isGrade II listed. The main hall is covered by an enormous concretedome, shaped as an ellipticalparaboloid, spanning 225 feet (69 m) by 125 feet (38 m) and only 3 inches (7.6 cm) thick at the centre. The dome is believed to have been the largestconcrete shell structure built at that time in Europe.[68]
Smithfield is the City of London's only major wholesale market (Leadenhall Market nowadays attracts more tourist trade)[69] which has escaped relocation out of central London to cheaper land, better transport links, and more modern facilities. (Covent Garden,Spitalfields andBillingsgate have all relocated). The market operates to supply inner City butchers, shops and restaurants with quality fresh meat, and so its main trading hours are 4:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon each weekday.[40] Instead of moving away, Smithfield Market continues to modernise its existing site: its imposing Victorian buildings have had access points added for the loading and unloading oflorries.
The buildings stand above a warren oftunnels: previously, live animals were brought to market by hoof (from the mid-19th century onwards they arrived by rail) and were slaughtered on site. The former railway tunnels are now used for storage, parking and as basements. An impressive cobbled ramp spirals down around West Smithfield's public garden,[3] on the south side of the market, providing access to part of this area. Some of the buildings on Charterhouse Street on Smithfield's north side maintain access to the tunnels via their basements.
Some of the former meat market buildings have nowchanged use. For example, the former Central Cold Store, onCharterhouse Street is now, most unusually, a city centrecogenerationpower station operated by Citigen.[70] The Metropolitan Cold Stores was converted in 1999 into the nightclubFabric[71] and the 'Smiths' of Smithfield bars and restaurants.[72]
Smithfield comprises the market as its central feature, surrounded by many old buildings on three sides and a public open space (or Rotunda Garden) at West Smithfield, beneath which there is a public car park.[73] The south side is occupied bySt Bartholomew's Hospital (known asBarts in common parlance), and on the east side by the Priory Church ofSt Bartholomew the Great. The Church ofSt Bartholomew the Less is located next to the King Henry VIII Gate, the hospital's main entrance.
The north and south of the square are now closed to through traffic, as part of the City's security andsurveillance cordon known as theRing of steel. Security for the market is provided by itsmarket constabulary.[74]
In early 2019, the City of London Corporation's main decision-making body, the Court of Common Council, proposed thatBillingsgate Fish Market,New Spitalfields Market and Smithfield Market should move to a new consolidated site inDagenham Dock.[75] A formal planning application was made in June 2020,[76] and received outline permission in March 2021. However, in November 2024, the council announced it did not intend to proceed with these plans as they were no longer economically viable; the £800M cost was deemed too expensive[77]
The City of London Corporation announced in November 2024 that Smithfield market, along with Billingsgate Fish Market, would close in or after 2028 with no replacement.[78] A deal was struck between the Corporation and a group of traders, who would receive £150 million in compensation, and would not protest against the closure.[77]
Since 2005, theGeneral Market (1883) and the adjacentFish Market andRed House buildings (1898), part of the Victorian complex of the Smithfield Market, have been facing a threat of demolition. TheCity of London Corporation, the ultimate owner of the property, has been engaged in public consultation to assess how best to redevelop the disused property and regenerate the area. Former property developers Thornfield Properties had planned to demolish the historic site and build a seven-storey office block, offering 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) of office space, with a retail outlet on the ground floor.[79]
Several campaigns, promoted byEnglish Heritage[80] andSave Britain's Heritage[57] among others,[81][82] were run to raise public awareness of this part of London's Victorian heritage. Grade IIlisted building protection was approved for theRed House Cold Store building in 2005 byCulture SecretaryTessa Jowell, on the basis of new historical evidence qualifying the complex as "the earliest existing example of a purpose-built powered cold store".[83]
Whilst the market continues to trade, its future remains unclear following a major public inquiry in 2007, instigated by Planning MinisterRuth Kelly.[84] The public inquiry concerning the proposed demolition and redevelopment of the General Market Building was held between 6 November 2007 and 25 January 2008. In August 2008,Communities SecretaryHazel Blears announced that planning permission for the General Market's redevelopment had been refused, stating that the threatened buildings made "a significant contribution" to the character and appearance ofFarringdon and the surrounding area.[85][86]
On 12 October 2012,Henderson Group unveiled its £160 million plan for redeveloping the western side of the Central Market. Henderson proposed that the fish market, General Market and Red House buildings, all over a century old, be demolished to make way for restaurants, retailers and office buildings, while they would restore and retain much of the market building's original perimeter walls, with a new piazza being created in the General Market.[87]Marcus Binney of the campaign groupSave Britain's Heritage said: "This proposal constitutes the worst mutilation of a Victorian landmark in the last 30 years."[88]
Some of the buildings on Lindsey Street opposite the East Market were demolished in 2010 to allow the construction of the newElizabeth line station atFarringdon. The demolished buildings includedSmithfield House (an early 20th-century unlistedHennebique concrete building), theEdmund Martin Ltd. shop (an earlier building with alterations dating to the 1930s), and two Victorian warehouses behind them.[89]
In March 2015, theMuseum of London revealed plans to vacate its Barbican site at 150 London Wall and move into the General Market Building.[90][91] The Barbican site closed on 4 December 2022, to prepare for the subsequent move.[92][90] The foundation stone for its new West Smithfield site was unveiled on 16 October 2023, with the reopening of the museum at the new site still planned for 2026.[93]
Episode 1 ofEspionage (TV series), "The Incurable One", (broadcast in the UK on 5 October, 1963), includes footage ofSteven Hill, andIngrid Thulin walking towards, through, and out of the market into the area.[citation needed]
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