Londoners love a market and markets have been at the centre of it all since the days of Londinium. Indeed one of the very first was in the Roman Forum, now under the Guildhall in the City of London. Markets are where we gather, gossip, eat and eavesdrop, haggle and hang around. What could be better then, for the new home of London Museum.
On 28 November this year, we will proudly open the doors to London Museum in Smithfield’s Victorian General Market. Smithfield has been a site of cultural and commercial exchange since at least the 1100s. It was home to the famous Bartholomew Fair, which ran for 700 years. The chaos of its former open livestock market- a riot of cattle and human activity- is captured in the pages of Charles Dickens. Then in the late 19th century, grand new market buildings were designed by City architect Sir Horace Jones, cementing the area’s importance as a centre for trade.
