I also remember the market well as a kid. I used to go to cubs close by and we were occasionally taken there by the troop leader. I remember the St. George’s Day parades made by scouts, guides, cubs and brownies too that passed close by.

Each time I visit London, I always make a point of visiting the Market and the Viaduct. Both are amazing architectural wonders and both have a long history. I am glad to see that the Market is saved. Now, let us hope that it and the stairs from the Viaduct can be restored to their former glory. This should not be too hard to do.

In Seattle, where I live, they kept trying to bulldoze the Pike Place Market (the oldest public market in America still running). But the opposition failed and now it is unthinkable to have Seattle without the market.

It is THE place that everyone goes when they first get to town. I’m sure much of that same community pride will stick to the Smithfield market. They don’t make them like that any more. Congratualtions!

Marianne Butler author ‘London Architecture’.

— but we also now need them to hand it over :-/ And to hold their hands up, otherwise as owners of a 999-year lease, as they’ve already threatened — in the manner of a spoilt child! — the buildings will continue to be neglected to the point that restoration is truly not viable.

9 July 2014 — “Smithfield developer vows to keep site”
http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/smithfield-developer-vows-to-keep-site/5069641.article

With English Heritage ‘on side’ (shamefully theirs rather than those of us fighting demolition :-/ ) we can presume that any moves to fully include the market buildings on EH’s ‘At Risk’ register will not necessarily happen quickly enough.

So yes, there’s much work still to do. But yesterday’s news really is the best possible outcome at this stage 🙂 …and the best kind of precedent, giving hope to many other heritage sites where all that’s standing between a building and its demolition — literally standing, strong, firm, together and tall — is the pro-bono services of concerned heritage experts and the community of whatever scale, worldwide if The Gentle Author has anything to do with it!

‘We’ stood in the way, and our protest stood out as something special. As a City resident — and a concerned individual who sees the planet as a whole as home 🙂 — I really can’t thank enough, those who presented such eloquent and compelling submissions to the Public Enquiry, amongst others Christopher Costelloe for the Victorian Society, John Burrell (Burrell Foley Fischer LLP), Jennifer Freeman, Alec Forshaw, Eric Reynolds (Urban Space Management), Roger Hepher (Director, Savills), and indeed the whole SAVE-Victorian Society ‘grouping’, whose fine words and detailed understanding of the issues more than equalled those of the City and the developer, who might otherwise have thought that technical correctness was enough when in fact it was technical brilliance, in the use/application of the facts and the law, with the added ‘value’ of being ‘human, that was going to win out!

And so as that ‘wider community’ we can all now consider ourselves invited to still be involved, in fact more involved than ever, as this was both a ruling against inappropriate development and in favour of the conservation-centred alternative. Expectations and trust are now focused on and invested in those who have put their names to the alternative and their shoulder to the wheel. We have our own precedent to deliver in terms of making these plans a reality and making the plan work by making heritage management work. And I have this feeling that ‘the people’ and the experts that guide them shall! …even though we’ll need to presume something less than the full co-operation of the site’s current owners!

I even have reason to hope that Mr Pickles’ decision is one that before long Peter Wynn Rees — who in March left his post as THE City Planning Officer (Head/Chief) after 29 years at the City of London Corporation — and who’s final “hoorah” was his presentation in support of the developers at the Public Enquiry, may yet come to accept as ‘appropriate’, at least in part, not least given his professional background in heritage conservation, and the fact that he remains a City resident, this being his local market!…

“His previous jobs include periods with the Historic Buildings Division of the Greater London Council and in private practice with Gordon Cullen. While at the Department of the Environment, he advised local authorities across England on the conservation and planning of historic towns. As Assistant Chief Planning Officer to the London Borough of Lambeth, from 1979-85, he led the production of the borough’s conservation strategy and the regeneration of Brixton and Vauxhall.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0314/peter_rees_joins_bartlett_07032014

Meanwhile, and always, the greatest respect and immeasurable gratitude to The Gentle Author. Hello and thank you too to Joan Brown — I’m supposing, from us all 🙂

BACKGROUND READING — for those so inclined…

“Proposed development at Smithfield Market turned down”
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/proposed-development-at-smithfield-market-turned-down

“Welcome to the Smithfield Market Public Inquiry Website”…
http://www.persona.uk.com/Sfields/index.htm

Campaign ‘hub’
http://savesmithfieldmarket.com