How world’s oldest meat market Smithfield’s will likely be remodeled into £250million London Museum when it closes after 900 years

London‘s historic Smithfield Market will become a mixed-use cultural development when it closes after 900 years.

The world’s oldest meat market was established in 1850, and has been a pillar of the capital’s infrastructure – appearing in everything from Dickens to the 1174 writings of William Fitzstephen, clerk to Saint Thomas Becket.

The current site was designed by architect Sir Horace Jones in the mid-19th century and will now become the home of the new London Museum – previously called the Museum of London.

And under the new ownership the structure that has been home to butchers for nearly a millennia is set to be partially demolished and become a blend of cultural spaces.

The proposal for the general market promises a change of use ‘to provide a museum and ancillary uses and areas, together with a flexible retail, restaurant, drinking establishment and leisure (gym) use for the perimeter “houses”‘.

The Poultry Market will be changed into a museum alongside ancillary uses and areas.

And the Annexe Site – including the Fish Market and Engine House – will be turned into a triple-height canopy space above a ‘public realm space’.

The building will be refurbished and altered, becoming shops, offices, restaurants and bars alongside even more museum space. 

In a dramatic change to the market’s external appeal, illuminated text will be branded across the façade.

Using low-energy LED lights, the text on the signs will be able to be changed – and can be used to create technicolor slogans. 

They will be switched on and off at an agreed time, and will usually go black at 11pm. 

Elsewhere, above entrances to the museum, there will also be a backlit LED façade text signs, intended to created a ‘bright/visible entrance’. 

The Poultry Market will be lit with glowing lanterns replicating the original 1960s design, alongside artsy honeycomb glass block walls. 

The Billingsgate fish market, which was established in 1850 and is also set to close, is planned to be redeveloped into housing.

Traders at the iconic English institution described the move as a ‘sad day’ for the capital and a ‘nightmare’ for them personally. 

Butcher Joe Howgate, 25, told MailOnline: ‘It’s been here for 800 or 900 years, it’s not nice the corporation has said “it’s done”. It’s sad for London, there is a lot of history here, it’s a long time and for them to say ‘‘that’s it, we’re going to call it a day’’ is sad and unusual.’

There had been plans to relocate the market and Billingsgate to a new £1billion development in Dagenham, east London, but the City of London Corporation put these plans on hold this month and yesterday voted to end them altogether. 

The closure of Smithfield, which comes at a time Britons are eating less meat, will require the Corporation to provide more than £300million worth of compensation to traders. The site of Billingsgate in Canary Wharf is set to be turned into housing and shops. 

Traders will be able to continue their operations at the markets until at least 2028, the corporation added.

Mr Howgate told MailOnline: ‘It’s going to be a nightmare for some of the butchers in London as some will have to travel across London to go elsewhere.

‘It’s difficult but we’ll carry on elsewhere, you just have to work your way through and things change so we’ll see.

‘We have always said that five years is a long time in this job and a lot can change. I think they’re saying that in 2028 or 2029 it’s got to go, a lot can happen in that time.’

The 25-year-old added that the changes will mean some traders will ‘call it a day’ while some may be able to continue to work.

Jordan McCarthy, 24, who helps with packing the meat for customers said: ‘It might be disappointing for those people who have been here for a long time, 15 to 20 years plus and I think for them it’s home and they don’t want to give it up.

‘Even if they have enough money they come here for the sense of pride and team of carrying the family business.

‘A lot of them might come with that and they have a lot of pride in what they have done.’

However, Ian Wilson, a butcher for 26 years, said the art of the trade is in being able to adapt and if owners are willing to plan then they will do well.

He said: ‘The impact to your business is about how you adapt and plan, if you do it well like any business then you’ll be fine, if you stick to your old ways and try to carry on then you’re in for a tough life.

‘I think there is an archaic element to some of the workers up here. No one likes change but they’ve always done it this way and no one likes to have to change things.

‘I have had to change, with Covid, and even since I started I have always been aware of evolving. You either adapt or you die.’

A bill will be tabled in Parliament today to absolve the City of London Corporation of responsibility for running the market.

Members of the corporation’s council blamed the decision to axe its relocation plans on a sharp rise in construction costs and wider inflation, which ‘made the move unaffordable’.

Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, previously said: ‘This 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.

‘We’ve worked closely with the traders and thank them for their input and understanding.

‘We’re committed to making sure they have the financial support and guidance they need to transition seamlessly and successfully to new locations.’

Dominic Twomey, leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said: ‘While this is disappointing news, we understand the financial pressures that key investment projects are facing with soaring inflation in recent years.

‘We are committed to continue working with the City of London Corporation to unlock the huge potential of the Dagenham Dock site to bring new employment uses and high quality jobs for local people.’

Author Charles Dickens depicted Smithfield Market in his celebrated novel Oliver Twist. He described it as a place where ‘filth and mire’ rose ‘nearly ankle-deep’, as the ‘reeking bodies of cattle’ massed all around.

Another Victorian writer branded it a hub of ‘cruelty, filth, effluvia, pestilence, impiety, horrid language, danger, disgusting and shuddering sights, and every obnoxious item that can be imagined.’

In 1174, Smithfield was described by William Fitzstephen, clerk to Thomas Becket, as ‘a smooth field where every Friday there is a celebrated rendezvous of fine horses to be sold, and in another quarter are placed vendibles of the peasant, swine with their deep flanks, and cows and oxen of immense bulk.’

Under King Edward III in 1327, the City of London Corporation was given the right to run it and other wholesale food markets.

But from the early 13th century, Smithfield was also used as an execution site.

Wallace – whose death was famously depicted in Mel Gibson’s film Braveheart – was hanged, drawn and quartered there in 1305 after being dragged naked through the streets.

In 1381, Wat Tyler, the leader of the failed Peasants’ Revolt, was beheaded at Smithfield.

And, in 1546 during the reign of King Henry VIII, Protestant preacher Anne Askew was burnt at the stake at Smithfield as a huge crowd of people looked on.

She was just one of dozens of people burned in the same place throughout the Tudor period.

The market and the surrounding area would go on to emerge unscathed from the 1666 Great Fire of London, which devastated much of the rest of the capital.

In 1945, as the Second World War neared its conclusion, a German V2 rocket that struck nearby caused an explosion which tore through the market buildings and caused more than 100 deaths.

And in 1958, two firefighters were killed tackling a blaze that broke out in a cold storage firm’s premises in the market.

The fire burned for three days and is regarded as one of the worst in London since the Blitz in 1940.

Smithfield Market has received several royal visitors. In 1926, the future King Edward VIII spent 90 minutes inspecting stalls.

Nearly 80 years later, in 1980, King Charles enjoyed himself at the market.

The then Prince of Wales was cheered and clapped as he tested the weight of a barrow laden with meat.

The Queen Mother made several visits to the market, including for the current set-up’s centenary in 1968 and in 1997.

The current market site was built in 1868, designed by architect Sir Horace Jones.

By then, the site had shifted from being a livestock hub to a wholesale meat market, as traders sought to accommodate the appetite of London’s booming population.

Jones, who had designed Tower Bridge, developed a complex of sophisticated buildings. Among them was the Central Meat Market, the General Market and the Poultry Market.

One of the most revolutionary features of the site was the railway that ran underneath the site, bringing the freight trains laden with supplies of meat.

The market would be open at night, so that traders had time to prepare their meat for sale a few hours later.

However, from 1945 onwards, Smithfield became less busy as supermarkets began buying directly from suppliers.