The City of London is a world-leading business and financial district. One only has to gaze up to see the extraordinary skyscrapers, full of workers in offices, or dining restaurants, or enjoying luxury living accommodation. Yet one only also has to look a little lower down to understand the City is a place bursting with history, something at grave risk being forgotten.
The announcement that Smithfield meat market appears set to be shut after nearly 900 years of trading is a case in point. The City of London Corporation is seeking to effectively absolve itself from responsibility of running both Smithfield and Billingsgate, and with it has abdicated its responsibility as custodian.
The corporation previously revealed plans to relocate both markets to a new £1 billion development in Dagenham. The new market would also have brought 2,700 jobs to Barking and Dagenham while generating nearly £15 billion to the UK by 2049. But on Tuesday, it confirmed at a private meeting of its Court of Common Council that it had formally ended its interest in relocating the two markets. This is shameful.
Indeed, the statement from Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, beggars belief that it was drafted and signed off at all. He said the 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. By stepping back from direct market operations, we will help to create opportunities for these businesses to thrive independently.”
From the medieval churches to rustic street names, the hidden alleyways and quiet public gardens, the City is a place where both old and new London live in unusual harmony. It is eminently possibly both to preserve our history and develop areas with housing and cultural centres, as the Corporation wants. To pretend otherwise is to ignore what has clearly worked so well in the past and to this day.
This is not about opposition to change for the sake of it. The capital is at its best when it marries past with future. It is a Roman city fit for the 21st century. The corporation ought to remember its unique role as custodian, and do better for the city, its traditions and traders.
