Time marches on, I suppose, but the idea of Smithfield becoming a giant WeWork, or a collection of food vans with names like The Crazy Taco Bros, makes me want to eat my own hands. - ThreadSky

byrobdavies.bsky.social • 92 days ago

Time marches on, I suppose, but the idea of Smithfield becoming a giant WeWork, or a collection of food vans with names like The Crazy Taco Bros, makes me want to eat my own hands.

Reposted from Steve Chambers

Smithfield and Billingsgate Markets to close without replacement in 2028. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Comments

tangocat.bsky.social•92 days ago

🙄😮‍💨😪
Damn and blast! Awful thought.

ididsaythat.bsky.social•91 days ago

Don't forget more 'public realm' space with edgy street furniture and risible sculpture.

mwhipp.bsky.social•92 days ago

Isn't part of Smithfield being taken up by the new Museum of London? I know how you feel, though.

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

Well that's certainly a nice thing.

mwhipp.bsky.social•92 days ago

I'm old enough to remember when Spitalfields was pretty rough, we would go to a little Italian family run restaurant for after work meals, just on the edge of it. Time moves on.

fernmonkey.bsky.social•92 days ago

It's going to be luxury flats again, isn't it?

verafang.bsky.social•92 days ago

and a fucking boutique hotel...

always a boutique hotel, even if it is owned by a huge chain and has 450 rooms

guardianheather.bsky.social•92 days ago

Absolutely me too - having not eaten meat since some point in the 80s, I am really *not allowed* to feel sad about Smithfield's demise, but I still do.

seanie100.bsky.social•92 days ago

Pre-pandemic, I used to Boris Bike through Smithfield market (there is a road that actually goes through the building). When I passed at 7:45am they were already shutting up shop for the day..

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

The pubs round there were known for doing the UK's earliest pints, I think. I know because I tried to find the first place serving a pint after lockdown. In the end, I had to drive from SE London to a Wetherspoons in Colindale at 5am.

williamcarruthers.bsky.social•91 days ago

There was a pub behind Mount Pleasant that was open 24hrs to serve the post office workers

chrisferrary.bsky.social•92 days ago

The Corporation of London has been faffing about with Smithfield for the last 40 years. They produced a specific Local Plan for it when I worked in the City planning dept. in the 1980’s, but little changed. It’ a monument to inertia and vested interests. I bet nothing happens now either!

verafang.bsky.social•92 days ago

this is so depressing. It is one of my favourite areas of London. They'll make it like today's Spitalfields market won't they?

mark1962b.bsky.social•92 days ago

Does any other country tear apart its cultural heritage in the manner we do?

tinned-tom.bsky.social•92 days ago

Oh, I loved the old days of the cafe/pub without signage for a very late Guinness... Sad indeed

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

Should point out that the plan to put some of the new London Museum in there seems like a nice idea, so maybe my nightmare vision won't come to pass.

paoloalessandro.bsky.social•92 days ago

Yes that is the plan, the first section is due to open in 2025 I think. My OH is the Trustees liaison for the Museum and is constantly escorting visitors around the new site.
T mentioned that the move of the old market was under review a few days ago.

dtref.bsky.social•92 days ago

Someone I used to work with is involved with the capital project in MoL and it's going to be spectacular.

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

Well that's nice news. I'll make sure to take the kids.

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

H/T @mwhipp.bsky.social

jonathan-n-d-uk.bsky.social•91 days ago

The idea of destroying this cultural heritage is beyond words.

sjshearman.bsky.social•92 days ago

Feels like soul of the city is being ripped out tbh

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

Yeah, on top of the closure of clubs and gig venues. I'm sure there's loads of cool new stuff that I'm too old to know about and too uninterested in going to East London to find out about.

emmavj.bsky.social•92 days ago

Same. Can’t they make it different

joestclairford.bsky.social•92 days ago

I'm a vege so don't have much skin in the game but I used to work late nights near St Paul's and often walked home to Highbury through Smithfield's in the early hours. There is something intangibly brilliant about a bustling market.

dd-prague.bsky.social•91 days ago

"Exciting retail opportunities combined with bespoke luxury living solutions".

gingerfox1.bsky.social•92 days ago

I thought Brexit meant we were taking back control? How can we deliver our world beating meat to London?

gareth0108.bsky.social•92 days ago

Presumably the political donors who own small trading estates across the south east had a say in this proposition

jonty24.bsky.social•92 days ago

I fondly remember regular hearty breakfasts (including very decent bubble to go with the meat items 😃) with workmates at the Cock Tavern in the late 1990s and early noughties, where you could have a pint or two with it. The coffee was pretty good mind you.

rouler.bsky.social•92 days ago

Very happy memories of finishing a run of nights on a Monday morning and then going to The Cock for breakfast and getting hammered.

Stopped when we went to 12 hr shifts and only did 2 or 3 nights on the bounce.

cog1.bsky.social•92 days ago

A couple of places like that still exist (Smith’s of Smithfield is great), but they’re heavily gentrified now.

jonty24.bsky.social•92 days ago

The good thing about the Cock Tavern was that most of the butchers ate there and it could get pretty busy at times. We worked on the basis that the butchers knew quality ingredients. The bacon in particular was really good. And was pretty good value.

cog1.bsky.social•92 days ago

It costs an arm and a leg to eat around Smithfield now. I used to go in the Fox and Anchor, but it’s now devoid of atmosphere and the breakfasts have been bistro-fied.
Smiths is just a wine bar that also does breakfasts, but they come with a bacon chop which is a treat in itself.

richardcrossan.bsky.social•92 days ago

The worst bit of this is the Dagenham Dock move not happening. The traders are effectively being told to leave and go... somewhere. £300m wasted on acquiring and clearing the Dagenham site. I was a City councillor when the plan was created and am disappointed but unsurprised the wheels have come off

ofblacklanterns.bsky.social•92 days ago

Worth a reshare of this brilliant documentary https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00rzx5w/inside-story-fish-tales

rewerbyor.bsky.social•92 days ago

Speaking as one of the handful of British people who don’t live in London I couldn’t care less.

heyheygillian.bsky.social•92 days ago

And yet you cared enough to comment. Paradox!!

rewerbyor.bsky.social•92 days ago

Not really a paradox…just a half-hearted, lazy comment on how much focus, time, money, investment etc etc is bestowed upon London while us peasants in the provinces dance around in our clogs surviving on roadkill!

I am a northern monkey, ignore me!

Also, I am vegetarian so won’t lament this.

heyheygillian.bsky.social•92 days ago

It's a post by someone sad that a historical institution is closing. That's not particularly London-centric. It just happens to be in London. And is indicative of a wider trend, places being hollowed out and sold back to us by those who know the price of everything and the value of nowt.

rewerbyor.bsky.social•92 days ago

I agree with all of that, as I was saying…a bit of a half hearted shot across the bows. But…and it’s none of my business whether you live in London or not…it’s undoubtedly the case that the rest of the country is force-fed news about London that doesn’t affect us or our interest. Let’s not argue!

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

I wouldn't say that I don't care about urban planning in Glasgow, Birmingham or Manchester, for instance. But I definitely wouldn't comment on them.

rewerbyor.bsky.social•92 days ago

It was more of a comment on the fact that those of us in the rest of the UK can sometimes get slightly peeved by the retina-burning focus on all things London. You wouldn’t get the chance to not care about urban planning in those cities because you’d probably never hear about it.

Rant over!

robertwoolley.bsky.social•92 days ago

Logically you would expect Smithfield and Billingsgate to relocate to the likes of Thurrock. Close to the M25/A13

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

Think i read that one is going to Dagenham?

joxley.jmoxley.co.uk•92 days ago

No, that plan has been abandoned
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c937d7y6g47o

byrobdavies.bsky.social•92 days ago

Yeah, so I hear. Shame.

robtelford.bsky.social•92 days ago

Both markets were supposed to be moving to Dagenham from their current sites at Smithfield and the Isle of Dogs

The City had decided that plan is not viable and is going to close them both instead 🫤

robertwoolley.bsky.social•92 days ago

I wonder why viability is a problem? Suspect it might be scale?

robtelford.bsky.social•92 days ago

Per The Guardian: "Project costs had risen owing to a number of external factors, including inflation and the increasing cost of construction that have made the move unaffordable, it said."

Dagenham was going to cost £1bn, but compensating traders will be £300m

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/26/smithfield-meat-market-to-close-for-good-after-relocation-plans-voted-down

robertwoolley.bsky.social•92 days ago

It would be logical. Relocation of markets started with Covent Garden moving to Nine Elms 50 years ago. New Covent Garden Market has actually halved in size in the last few years. The reason is that with the disappearance of retails greengrocers and most (1/2)

robertwoolley.bsky.social•92 days ago

..florists the volumes going through the market have dropped. Although it now also sells non food stuff for restaurants (eg crockery/cutlery). Suspect Billingsgate and Smithfield are subject to the same trends. Supermarkets buy direct not via markets.

sukhsingh.bsky.social•92 days ago

Knew it will go to housing before I read it… all about demand I guess, and we need to move on at some point…

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