Comments on: The Last Porters Of Billingsgate Market https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/12/03/the-last-porters-of-billingsgate-market/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:25:06 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Marcia Howard https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/12/03/the-last-porters-of-billingsgate-market/#comment-1660832 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 17:25:06 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=201546#comment-1660832 My goodness. That’s some service, many sounding like their entire working lives spent there. Now that’s dedication

]]> By: Joan Bailey https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/12/03/the-last-porters-of-billingsgate-market/#comment-1660795 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 16:32:23 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=201546#comment-1660795 Things change but the loss of such longstanding manual trades like fish porter is sad, especially when there was clearly a market for fish. Land prices trump tradition. And now both Billingsgate and Smithfield are go entirely and not be rellocated like the old veg markets, which operated in Spitalfields and Covent Garden.
I just hope we see a ressurgance in fishmonger’s and butcher’s shops in East London. But where will they get the wholesale produce from? Won’t there be a gap in the market?

]]> By: Saba https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/12/03/the-last-porters-of-billingsgate-market/#comment-1660754 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 14:35:19 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=201546#comment-1660754 I wonder whether the city or federal government compensated these workers with a protective severance package as would be just and fair. Getting fired is so brutal and can result in financial, social, and psychological damage, so having extra income can at least help. I hope that each has found a new endeavor, a new place in the system. I hope each will never have to withstand another kick in the teeth.

]]> By: Lynne Perrella https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/12/03/the-last-porters-of-billingsgate-market/#comment-1660736 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:54:07 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=201546#comment-1660736 Each person deserves to be seen. Each story matters. These life lessons are on-view in every
post from the Gentle Author. Today’s post just brought me to a full stop. Maybe I am the
proverbial cock-eyed optimist, but I think these men look so tenacious and capable, and I trust they have gone on to other worthy endeavors. They look like the kind of people that anyone would welcome as a worker, a colleague, a friend, and a citizen. Gentlemen — wishing you all well.

Thank you, GA, for shining a light. And kudos to Ms. Leisinger. Wonderful evocative portraits!

]]> By: Jennifer Newbold https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/12/03/the-last-porters-of-billingsgate-market/#comment-1660703 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 13:01:29 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=201546#comment-1660703 I wish I could know where these men are now. I hope they landed on their feet.

]]> By: Mathilde Grange https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/12/03/the-last-porters-of-billingsgate-market/#comment-1660383 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 09:50:17 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=201546#comment-1660383 Claudia is right, these were proud men. Apparently we are doomed to live in cities were nothing is real any more. Magnificent photographs. Thank you, dear G.A.

]]> By: George Kearse https://spitalfieldslife.com/2024/12/03/the-last-porters-of-billingsgate-market/#comment-1660140 Tue, 03 Dec 2024 07:30:32 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=201546#comment-1660140 There’s dignity in the bleakness of these portraits. They say it’s ‘progress’ when all it is is ‘greed’, the destruction of culture, tradition and a way of life that has been in place for hundreds of years. The destruction of heritage whichever way we turn, digital imagery and the written word our only means of knowing it ever existed.

]]>