A first butcher’s at Smithfield plans

Meat traders at famous site still in dark over whether they will be moved out to Dagenham

How the new ‘reimagined’ Grade II-listed Smithfield could look

PLANS to convert the historic Smithfield meat market into a “cultural, commercial, and creative space” have been unveiled while butchers remain in the dark as to whether their business will be moved.

The City of London Corporation is considering moving the wholesale meat sellers, who have occupied the space for more than 150 years, out of the Farringdon site to Dagenham.

Architects Studio Egret West have been tasked with “reimagining” the Grade II-listed building to allow for pop-up stalls and temporary shops while the renovation takes place.

When the Tribune went to speak to workers at the market, several said they were still clueless as to what would be happening to them in the future.

One employee, who has been working at the market for 53 years but only gave his name as Alan, said: “I think this place will end up like Covent Garden, it is the way London is becoming. If you look around here there are no market cafés, it’s all Subways and £4 for a cup of coffee.”

An architect’s vision for interior – ‘a place for exposition and entertainment’

The 73-year-old added: “The market isn’t what it used to be either. It’s more like Tesco’s now and we have people wandering through and looking at us like we’re animals in a zoo.”

Another butcher said: “We don’t know anything about what’s happening. I just come in here and do my job and go home.”

We contacted the Smithfield Tenants Association but a spokeswoman said she had no comment to provide.

A new tube station is set to open directly outside the entrance to the market.

David West, founding director at Studio Egret West, said: “We are excited to explore the evolution of Smithfield Market, working closely with the City of London Corporation, key stakeholders and the wider community.

How the new museum – with green roof – will look near the meat market

“Thanks to connectivities that did not exist previously, Smithfield is set to attract a new influx of people and, should the meat market move, Smithfield Market could be transformed in a highly flexible and imaginative way, creating a place for meeting and making, growing and exchanging, exposition and entertainment.”

A separate planning application has been submitted by the Museum of London to demolish and rebuild part of the west end of Smithfield as part of a £337million new site.


Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City, said: “This is a significant step forward in our journey to deliver on our wider ambition to create a vibrant and new world-class Culture Mile at the heart of the historic Square Mile. Alongside the new Museum of London, these plans will create exciting, new creative uses and public spaces, attracting workers, residents and new visitors to the area alike.”

Consultation launches on plans to bring Billingsgate, New Spitalfields and Smithfield markets to Dagenham

The former Barking Reach power station at Dagenham Dock is set to become the home of three markets.

Plans to unite three markets at a new site in Dagenham Dock are set to go out to public consultation.

The City of London Corporation is seeking feedback on proposals to bring Billingsgate, New Spitalfields and Smithfield markets to the site of the former Barking Reach power station.

The 42 acre site is set to feature modern facilites and an educational element, potentially a new training school for the market traders and food workers of the future.

Catherine McGuinness, who is in charge of policy at the City of London Corporation, said: "Our number one priority is to provide a top-quality market environment serving London and the south east - not just fit for today's needs but also for tomorrow's.

"The move to Dagenham Dock will enable our wholesale markets to flourish, providing more modern facilities and space for our tenants to grow so that they can continue to support London's food economy.

"The launch of these new plans shows we are one step closer to realising our ambitions for this site - a vision which will help us create a modern and sustainable co-located food location, serving existing and future generations across London and the UK."

Darren Rodwell, leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, added: "The proposed new home for London's markets promises to bring a huge economic boost to the borough, and our priority will be to make sure that local people have the skills and training to take advantage of the employment opportunities that will arise.

"So, it's especially important that our residents and local businesses share their knowledge of the area and respond to the consultation to ensure that we can ensure the markets operate smoothly, and flourish and grow in their new location."

Blood, sweat and booze are essential to the City’s identity

Plans to redesign Smithfield meat market as a tourist haven will destroy the soul of the site

Smithfield market was once home to the Bartholomew Fair, a raucous event celebrating the end of summer that dates back to 1123

Smithfield is a very corporeal place, a bit of the city that is all about bodies. At its heart is the meat market, the City of London’s last surviving central wholesale market, smelling of steely blood. Around it is a connective tissue of nightclubs, which fill up with swaying bodies at around the same time as the trucks full of carcasses and the meat porters arrive. South is St Bartholomew’s Hospital, founded 12 years after the Battle of Hastings. And the “Smooth Field” was once the site of executions. Hundreds were hanged, burnt or boiled alive there.

But plans to move the meat market to Dagenham and transform the buildings into “a vibrant, exciting and welcoming new destination” as part of the City’s cultural quarter threaten to crush what makes this neighbourhood so special. Smithfield was the perfect place for a night-time neighbourhood because the culture of early-opening pubs and cafés was already in place, residents were sparse and space was plentiful in the cavernous disused cold stores. Clubbers collided with meat porters and junior doctors in the pubs while bankers headed to work outside, it was strange and wonderful.

Of course there are arguments for taking markets out of the centre of cities, real estate is too valuable, traffic gets clogged up, there are pollution and hygiene problems. But what, exactly, has been the fate of markets that have been repurposed?

In London, Covent Garden was saved in the 1970s from planners who wanted to build a conference centre, but when the fruit and vegetable market moved out the space was turned into a tourist trap which no real Londoner would go anywhere near. Billingsgate fish market, which moved from its City site to the Isle of Dogs in 1982, left its lovely building a husk that is now underused as an occasional events space. Or look further afield: New York’s Meat Packing District once throbbed with a similar energy to Smithfield. After the butchers left it became another tourist destination, its canopied streets now designed by upmarket boutiques and hotels.

London has been careless with its markets. The success of Borough Market (albeit reborn as a foodie haven rather than a wholesale site) shows how successful they can be. In other cities the continuity of food markets is acknowledged as a critical component of culture and identity.

Think of the spectacles of Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market (which has had its own struggle with relocation) or Seattle’s Pike Place Market with its slightly ridiculous ritual of fish-throwing. Or Budapest’s central market, heaped with paprika and sausages or Mexico City’s garish Mercado San Juan.

No one maintains markets better than the Spanish. Every city has a covered market hall. They are municipally-owned places as pivotal to the identity of their cities as cathedrals and squares.

Barcelona’s Boqueria is often held up as a temple of fresh food but has become so crammed with tourists stopping for Instagram moments that locals have become frustrated. When the city restored the vast Sant Antoni market in 2018 it took steps to discourage gentrification, seeing the market as a social as well as a commercial construct, critical to local identity in this working class barrio.

At Smithfield there is no doubt that the market hall itself, an iron structure designed in 1851 by City architect Horace Jones (who went on to design Tower Bridge) would be a fantastic success as a tourist destination. It is easy to picture its Grand Avenue stuffed with restaurants and pseudo-stalls and pretend-independent shops. The extensive underground cold storage vaults could also be used again.

But the City is already planning a new Museum of London next door and a concert hall nearby with the Barbican arts centre around the corner. Is there not enough culture here? Can we not save a little space for that endangered quantity, meat?

This is about the culture of London itself. The place where the market stands was once the site of the Bartholomew Fair, a raucous event celebrating the end of summer, from 1123 until it was abolished by uptight Victorians who disapproved of its bawdiness and debauchery. That very particular mix of blood, drink and sweat is essential to London’s survival as something more than a tourist simulacrum of a real city.

Museum of London lodges application for Smithfield Market move

The Museum of London has submitted its plans to relocate to Smithfield Market, claiming that the new site could become one of the capital’s top-10 tourist attractions.

The move would be a part of the wider project to move the historic Smithfield meat market, along with New Spitafields fruit and vegetable market and Billingsgate fish market, to Dagenham Docks.

The Smithfield site would then become home to a new public space, which would house shops, event spaces and the Museum of London.

The designs, submitted today to the City of London Corporation, largely preserve the historic facade of the building, while the building’s “cavernous and atmospheric spaces” will be used for displays, exhibitions and events.

Only minor changes will be made to the building’s structure, dating back to the Victorian era, to restore parts that “have fallen into disrepair”.

Museum of London director Sharon Ament believes the move to Smithfield, from its current home at the Barbican, could attract 2 million visitors a year and become one of London’s top-10 tourist attractions

The plans are expected to be deliberated on by the City of London’s planning committee later this year.

Museum of London director Sharon Ament believes the move to Smithfield, from its current home at the Barbican, could attract 2 million visitors a year and become one of London’s top-10 tourist attractions.

“It has been four years of hard work by a dedicated and talented project team in order to get here,” she said.

“While we still have a while to go and money to raise before we open the doors to the new museum, this is nevertheless a significant step forward to turning our vision into reality.”

Paul Williams OBE, principal director at the project’s lead architect Stanton Williams, added: “The opportunity to help reinvent, reimagine and transform a group of existing market buildings into a 21st century museum is an extraordinary opportunity – especially in an area of London so rich in history.

“Smithfield is a perfect location for the Museum of London, the place itself has so many stories to be told, and traces of the past to engage with.”

The relocation of the museum is expected to cost £337m, with the City of London Corporation so far contributing £197m.” 

A further £70m has been pledged by the mayor of London. 

This leaves £70m for the Museum of London to raise in order for the project to go ahead. 

The museum has so far raised £28m toward the relocation, with the help of large donations by trade guild the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, the Linbury Trust and he National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Winners of Smithfield Market contest announced

Architects to work on market buildings and public realm

Studio Egret West - Smithfield - Section Sketch

Studio Egret West and Hawkins Brown have won the competition for the next phase of work at Smithfield Market.

The two architects were picked by the City of London Corporation to reimagine the Smithfield East and West Market buildings and the broader Smithfield area.

Studio Egret West is leading on the delivery of concept designs for new cultural and commercial spaces within the market buildings themselves, while Hawkins Brown is leading on the surrounding public realm.

The projects are part of the City’s plans to brand as the Culture Mile an area between Farringdon and Moorgate where Crossrail stations are currently due to open next year, bringing thousands more visitors to the area.

Hawkins Brown - Smithfield public spaces

At the same time, the Museum of London is due to move into some of the market buildings in 2024 in a project designed by Stanton Williams, Asif Khan and Julian Harrap Architects. A new concert hall has been mooted for the museum’s current site, designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro.

The City Corporation is planning to consolidate its three wholesale food markets on to a single site at Dagenham Dock.

Hawkins Brown - Smithfield public spaces

It said in a statement: “Should the Meat Market move as part of this project, the Smithfield East and West Market buildings will be transformed into a vibrant, mixed-use development that complements Culture Mile. The final concept designs will protect and reflect the history of these iconic buildings which have served their area for over 150 years.”

Studio Egret West_Section Sketch - Smithfield Market

The jury, which included an independent Mayoral Design Advocate, picked Studio Egret West as “best placed to lead on the designs for this landmark project given their comprehensive knowledge of the area and their exciting ideas for breathing new life into these special buildings”.

Studio Egret West - Smithfield market - Axo Diagram

SEW’s team includes Alan Baxter Associates, structural engineers and heritage advisors, Donald Insall Associates, conservation architects and This Must Be The Place, specialists in “meanwhile uses”.

The practices will now consult with stakeholders to develop their concept designs.

Studio Egret West’s project

SEW adopted a flexible approach to curating a mix of uses that would both support the night-time economy and complement the new Museum of London, recognising the pace of change in the broader area. The uses proposed blend cultural, commercial, and creative space to create a world-class destination for all. SEW’s approach also allows for some early delivery through pop-up and temporary uses that both celebrate the history of the location and introduce exciting innovative uses.

David West, founding director at Studio Egret West, said: “We are excited to explore the evolution of Smithfield Market, working closely with the City of London Corporation, key stakeholders and the wider community.

“Thanks to connectivities that did not exist previously, Smithfield is set to attract a new influx of people and, should the meat market move, Smithfield Market could be transformed in a highly flexible and imaginative way, creating a place for meeting and making, growing and exchanging, exposition and entertainment.

“Similar to the Great Exhibition of 1851, imagine the spectrum of innovations celebrated in the newly opened-up market halls of Smithfield.”

Hawkins Brown’s public realm project

This project will deliver exceptional new public spaces across the whole Smithfield area,which runs from Farringdon Street to Aldersgate. The new public realm will transform the pedestrian experience by replacing some of the existing road network with new footpaths and landscaping – creating healthier, well-lit and safer streets, while helping to improve air quality by reducing emissions from traffic.

Hawkins Brown’s initial concept demonstrated an appropriate and imaginative design process which responded to the different historic street patterns in the area, taking into consideration surrounding character and uses. The proposals also set up methods for introducing greenery into the area, alongside a healthy streets approach, and designing a spacious and welcoming “threshold” area for the major institutions that will be opening on the site.

The new spaces could also host a range of cultural activities throughout the year, attracting new visitors to the area.

Darryl Chen, partner and head of urban design at Hawkins Brown, said: “We are delighted to be appointed on the transformation of this historic landmark site. This is a unique challenge to reimagine the identity of an entire area for the enjoyment of London’s residents and its visitors. Our initial scheme is based on the idea of the field – returning the area’s lanes and rat-runs into a single identifiable place that provides a range of settings for civic activities. The design of public spaces could really blur boundaries between inside and outside and redefine how culture is expressed in the public realm. Our practice has been long-time residents of Farringdon and we look forward to revealing the stories and significance it has had for many in the area.”

City of London appoints architects to re-design Smithfield Market

The transformation of Smithfield Market has taken another step forward, with contracts awarded to design the new public space.

The City of London Corporation is planning on combining the historic meat market with the New Spitafields vegetable market and the Billingsgate fish market in one site at Dagenham Dock.

Clerkenwell company Studio Egret West were today appointed by the corporation to be lead architects on redeveloping the Smithfield site.

Hawkins Brown have been awarded the contract to develop the “pedestrian experience” around the market.

Initial designs for the market by Studio Egret West show that it would house a number of shops, offices, a conference space and the Museum of London. (Image credit: Studio Egret West)
Initial designs for the market by Studio Egret West show that it would house a number of shops, offices, a conference space and the Museum of London.

David West, founding Director of Studio Egret West, said: “We are excited to explore the evolution of Smithfield Market, working closely with the City of London Corporation, key stakeholders and the wider community.

“Thanks to connectivities that did not exist previously, Smithfield is set to attract a new influx of people and, should the meat market move, Smithfield Market could be transformed in a highly flexible and imaginative way, creating a place for meeting and making, growing and exchanging, exposition and entertainment.

“Similar to the Great Exhibition of 1851, imagine the spectrum of innovations celebrated in the newly opened-up market halls of Smithfield.”

City of London Corporation policy chair Catherine McGuinness said the appointment of contracts was a “significant step forward” in developing a Culture Mile in the City.