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The Closure Of Smithfield Market

November 29, 2024
by the gentle author

In the week that the City of London voted to close Smithfield Market for good after more than 800 years of trading, I publish the work of photographer Orlando Gili who has been down at the market, documenting the last generation of butchers to work at this ancient site.

Greg Lawrence Junior and Greg Lawrence Junior Junior, Owners of G Lawrence Wholesale Meat

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‘I arrived at Smithfield in the dead of night to photograph London’s renowned meat market which is set for permanent closure. The last pubs had long closed and it was a few hours before tube station shutters were wrenched open.

Walking towards the market, you are met by a wave of sound, beeps and wheels dragged over tarmac, bearing the weighty chunks of meat wrapped in plastic. Emitting at a different frequency is the grumble from a line of white lorries and vans, punctuated by shouts and low pitched chatter. Smithfield is very much alive and in full operational mode at this time. Within minutes of arriving, I am dressed in white overalls and deep inside the bowels of the market, photographing blood splattered butchers, and dodging lines of dead animals hanging from hooks.

Experiencing Smithfield at night is to uncover a secret parallel world that operates in the shadows while the rest of London sleeps. There is a sense of frenetic energy and unpredictability. Forklifts whizz past men in long jackets hunched over neatly stacked boxes, punching numbers into calculators and fielding phone calls. Inside the tall Victorian halls, behind large glass windows, carcasses are hacked into pieces at literally breakneck speed. It is a physical analogue space with a masculine atmosphere. There is a strong sense of camaraderie and familial spirit, many of the businesses are family run.

I returned on early mornings to develop a portrait series that celebrates the people behind the market. Night workers provide an under-appreciated role in modern cities. They risk significant damage to their health to meet the demands of the 24/7 city. According to a long-term US study of nurses, night shift workers are up to 11% more likely to die early compared to those who work day shifts.

The closure of Smithfield Market ends over 800 years of trading meat in Central London as part of a wider trend to sanitise inner cities with less palatable aspects of urban life kept out of sight.’

Orlando Gili

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Mark, Chicken Salesman

Horatio, Driver

Moro, Butcher

Harry, Shopman

Simon, Salesman

Ian, Chicken Salesman

Greg, Beef Salesman and Sean, Cashier

Jonny, Butcher

Elijah, Salesman

Tony, Retired Boxer, Trader and Restaurant Distributor

Roger, Fork Lift Operator

Dave, Salesman

‘Pig Ear Tony’, Pig Meat Salesman

Charlie, Salesman

Aaron, Butcher, Marcus, Salesman and Mark, Shopman

Luca, Production

Adam, Butcher

Kye, Unloader

Pav, Butcher

Russel, Butcher

James, Sales Manager

Grant, Butcher

Photographs copyright © Orlando Gili

16 Responses leave one →
  1. November 29, 2024

    Oh dear. Surely there are better ways of sanitising an inner city than by destroying the historical trading centre, taking away heaps of jobs and sending prices sky-rocketing. Were there protests?
    I hope we don’t lose our central markets.

  2. November 29, 2024

    Good work by Orlando Gili to record the final days and a few of those involved for the sake of history.

    At one time, there was a café in the perimeter that slow-roasted an enormous joint over night. And naturally it was always the best meat. I wonder if it’s still there.

    Do you know if they will preserve the Victorian structure?

  3. Baden Smith permalink
    November 29, 2024

    Does this mean the Christmas Meat Auction is finished as well?

  4. Andy permalink
    November 29, 2024

    Enough to put you off meat and make you a vegetarian .

  5. Andrew permalink
    November 29, 2024

    Even as a (more or less) lifelong veggie I think it’s such a shame the market is closing. The site has so much history and as others have said, jobs, vital service for the city etc. Meanwhile it’s being repurposed for the museum of London!?! Bit cockeyed… And closed by the wealthiest local authority in the country…

  6. Greg T permalink
    November 29, 2024

    Where will they all go?
    Will there be lots of “small2 markets, competing with each other?
    Just closing this & making no provision at all for any succession is really stupid.
    The same applies to Billingsgate, of course.

  7. November 29, 2024

    Some familiar faces and some good friends amongst these photos. I hear the date for closure is 2028. I can’t believe that it will happen that quickly. I’m keeping everything crossed for a reprieve.

  8. Marcia Howard permalink
    November 29, 2024

    Another rich piece of London history. Family friends of ours dating back to the early 1950s, owned the very lucrative Christmas Turkey business at Smithfield and I have a couple of wonderful photos of an occasion when Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (King Charles III’s grandmother) was visiting the Market and was photographed with those friends. Ironically, our family friends were Jewish and didn’t actually celebrate the Christian Christmas.

  9. November 29, 2024

    Sincerely, I don’t get it. A city eats, it needs markets… Sanitizing? They are hundreds ways to sanitize a city without moving a market that has been here for 800 years. Why do downtowns have to all look alike? Why are the old shops disappearing and ar replaced with chains? It makes me sad and angry. We’ll all soon dress the same way and have the same hairdoes…

  10. Bethea Jenner permalink
    November 29, 2024

    Another piece in the jigsaw of London’s destruction. The beneficiaries of this are the property developers and supermarket chains. Sad to see.

  11. November 29, 2024

    Was it the relocation of the Museum of London that sealed Smithfield Market’s fate? I do hope not, since 800 years of history is certainly part of London’s enduring appeal. I’m afraid that the City planners are going to turn London into a bland, sanitised ghost of itself.

    I stayed in a hotel in September that was only a block away from Smithfield Market, and when I woke unexpectedly at 4am one morning, I could hear the market activity. Now I’m sad that I didn’t get up and go have a “butcher’s” while I still could.

  12. November 29, 2024

    May I say how much I enjoyed visiting this all-male enclave? Men, in all their glory.
    I loved how some are “caught” in a private moment, some stand full-frontal and seem to say “here I am, world”, and others are captured in the midst of their WORK. All wearing the clothing of their specialized trade, all exuding their dedication to a long-held tradition.

    I’m a traditionalist, so the loss of any of these trades and locales is mournful. Goodness, just seeing the gates and archways of the market site made my heart beat faster — and then meeting the men
    was the topper. Onward and upward, all.

  13. Dorothy V. Malcolm permalink
    November 29, 2024

    I find this sad. Eight hundred years and now this. Where are the preservationists and protestors? Hard to believe this is even happening.

    — Dorothy V. Malcolm

  14. Ann Vosper permalink
    November 30, 2024

    Tragic. More of our heritage gone.

  15. Cherub permalink
    December 1, 2024

    I was really sad to read about this and Billingsgate. I’ve also read flats are to be built, I hope it’s not going to be more luxury unaffordable housing!

  16. Jane McLaren permalink
    December 1, 2024

    My late big brother Ross enjoyed a fantastic career with Sainsburys and loved visiting Smithfield Market. I remember one of his many stories was about how the hooks were set off clanging down the line to mark notice of an important visitor but I wonder if anyone else remembers this custom and why they were set off?

    A sad day. Our cities are losing the very idiosyncratic historical entities that make them authentic, interesting places to visit. I despair at the greed behind modern theme park style overcrowded tourism. Many people are moving out of city centre housing because it is degrading the joy of city living.

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