London famously had many purpose-built market places located close to the centre of the great city. Billingsgate Fish market was originally in Lower Thames Street, the famous flower market at Covent Garden was of course there and just survived demolition to become a major tourist hotspot today and Smithfield Meat Market is the latest to be on the move.
Edward III encouraged markets in the City with a Charter which prohibited the setting up of any rival market within 6.6 miles (10.6km). However, the arrival of people, cars, traffic and mechanisation has made continuation of central London locations for major markets simply impractical.
The market is set to finally close by the end of 2028 and the City of London Corporation has ambitious plans to transform the now slightly shabby structure built by Sir Horace Jones into the centrepiece of a new cultural district.
The Grade II* building of the General Market, built in the 1880s and the Poultry Market which was rebuilt in the 1960s after a terrible fire will become ‘The London Museum’ when it leaves its home in the nearby brutalist structure of the Barbican.
Ambitious plans to re-house fascinating artefacts from London’s history, going back to Roman times will include a modern twist where visitors will be able to watch Thameslink trains passing through a tunnel.
There are some original houses within the complex which have variously been private homes and commercial premises but are in need of substantial renovation. The developers are looking to let the individual premises, once restored, to independent retailers, restaurants and pub operators with office space above.
Alec Shaw, Director of the New Museum Project and Estate, London Museum said : “From the very beginning of this project, our vision for the museum has been to create something for London – with Londoners – that tells the rich and vibrant story of this city.
“These street-front spaces offer us an entirely new way to do this and we’re excited to work with partners who share our love for London, whether that’s music studios, independent retailers, charities or favourite London brands.
“As we bring the market back to public use for the first time in almost four decades, we want to bring together a community that works in symbiosis with the museum and helps us shape a major new cultural quarter.”
The old Poultry Market will open to house temporary exhibitions for the museum in 2028 and will include an interactive learning centre. This part of the structure is more in keeping with the 1960s, modernist theme of the nearby Barbican and represents a period when it was thought appropriate to place a totally out-of-character building right next to something which is generally accepted as beautiful period architecture. It replaced the part of the building destroyed in the devastating fire in 1958 and has the claim to fame of being one of the largest concrete shell structures in the world.
The surrounding area is well-known for its meat restaurants and this will no doubt prosper from increasing footfall in this often overlooked North-Western corner of the City.
Fitting memorial
Queen Elizabeth II died nearly three years ago after having served the country and Commonwealth as Monarch for nearly 71 years, longer than anyone else.
Her Late Majesty’s Official London Residence was of course Buckingham Palace and it seems totally fitting therefore that a memorial should be placed nearby. St James’s Park is a beautiful green space, in front of the Palace where a family of pelicans live amongst other wildfowl and the many thousands of tourists who flock there. It is also a wonderful patch of green space on the edge of London’s bustling West End where people descend at lunchtime to take the shade beneath the avenues of plane trees.
A new space will be created named Queen Elizabeth II Place and will feature the late Queen on horseback. There will also be a separate statue of the Queen and Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, together, at the newly named Prince Phillip Gate on Birdcage Walk nearby.
The contest for the most suitable design was launched in 2024 and the team led by Foster and Partners were announced as winners on June 24, 2025. There are potentially a few changes to be made and the final design will be announced in the spring of 2026 to coincide with the centenary of Elizabeth’s birth.
There have been a few rumblings of course about the costs involved but these are significantly outweighed by most people who want to see the Late Queen remembered in this way. One controversial aspect of the winning scheme remains though, for now at least. There are plans to replace the very over-crowded bridge, the so-called ‘Blue Bridge’, in the park with a translucent cast-glass bridge, inspired by the Queen’s wedding tiara (the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara). This potentially could be the most expensive part of the plans and there are questions over maintenance and durability.
The Queen was the longest serving Monarch the country has ever had and through periods of political instability and turmoil, represented continuity, stability and respect to most people who are now pleased to see this truly fitting memorial right in the heart of the Nation’s capital.
Walk or cycle, don’t drive
Plans are afoot to pedestrianise more of central London. The idea of driving into the capital is a dim and distant memory for most people. Your columnist remembers driving his parents to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace and bumping up his father’s old Morris Marina on the kerb to park in the The Mall in the 1980s! Those days are long gone!
Sir Sadiq Khan says there has been an ‘overwhelmingly positive response’ to his proposals to fully pedestrianise Oxford Street but now more ambitious plans include lower Regent Street being fully paved and ‘greening’ the rest of this famous Georgian thoroughfare.
Westminster City Council said the draft masterplan reimagines John Nash’s original ambition, set out 200 years ago, to connect St James’s Park to Regent’s Park. But we can only wonder if Nash also envisaged banning the horse and carriage from this route!
