![\"\"](\"https:\/\/8400e186.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/12\/smithfield-christmas-auction-2023-14.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe City of London, which has the legal responsibility to provide the market sites, is currently seeking to have that obligation removed<\/a> following the withdrawal of its plans for a new wholesale market in Dagenham Dock.<\/p>\n It had been feared that the markets would close, but the City has been working with traders to find a replacement site, and one has been identified that seems to have universal approval. It\u2019s a plot of empty land right next to the Thames at the eastern end of the Royal Docks, known as Albert Island.<\/p>\n The Royal Docks is owned by the Greater London Authority (GLA), and it has been working with the City of London and Newham Council to explore moving the meat and fish markets to Albert Island.<\/p>\n The City of London estimates that the move will bring circa. \u00a3750m in local expenditure, over 2,200 jobs and \u00a3130m GVA to Newham and more than double those numbers in economic benefits to the wider UK economy over a 30-year period.<\/p>\n Subject to planning permission being granted, most of the Traders from both markets have agreed to move together to a new site with the remaining intending to transfer their business to others, ensuring that 100% of trade will continue.<\/p>\n The site is unusually well-suited to a wholesale market as it\u2019s undeveloped, just far enough from residential housing to avoid disturbing the neighbours, and well connected by road. Part of the reason why it\u2019s still undeveloped is that it\u2019s right under the flightpath for City Airport, so it was unlikely to ever be a nice place to live, but could be suitable to work, especially as much of the market\u2019s trading takes place overnight when the airport is closed.<\/p>\n Being outside the London Congestion Zone can also be a benefit to traders, as its introduction saw Smithfield Market start to wind down by 6:30am as traders tried to get out of London before the charge kicked in.<\/p>\n Greg Lawrence, Chairman of Smithfield Markets Traders\u2019 Association, said: \u201cIdentifying a preferred new site marks a significant step forward \u2014 and we\u2019re well ahead of where we thought we\u2019d be by Christmas. This location offers Traders the space and opportunity to grow our businesses while continuing to serve customers across London and the South East.<\/p>\n \u201cAlong with my fellow Traders, we will continue to work closely alongside the City of London Corporation, which has led efforts to identify a new site. We\u2019re now all keen to get cracking with the next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n Subject to planning approvals, the markets could open in 2028 and\u00a0will be known as New Billingsgate and New Smithfield.<\/p>\n In the meantime, the annual Smithfield Christmas Eve auction<\/a> is expected to carry on as usual.<\/p>\n The London Fish Markets site next to Canary Wharf<\/a> has been earmarked for housing development, while Smithfield will be turned into a cultural centre<\/a> alongside the neighbouring London Museum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The future of the Smithfield meat market and Billingsgate fish markets looks brighter after a new site for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-609236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115654884355909405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Potential site (c) City of London<\/p>\n