Billingsgate Market is the oldest of the City of London markets and was originally an open market on the north embankment of the Thames. From the 1850s, it supplied tons of fish to London's homes, restaurants and institutions every week from market buildings on Lower Thames Street.
Billingsgate Market, 1 Old Billingsgate Walk (Riverside, 16 Lower Thames St, London EC3R 6DX . By Sir Horace Jones (20 May 1819 – 21 May 1887), who also designed Tower Bridge which was completed posthumously.
On 26 November a decision was taken by the Court of Common Council to end the planned move of Billingsgate and Smithfield markets to a new location in Dagenham, and instead to provide financial support to the traders to enable them to move to new locations of their choosing.
Billingsgate Market dates back to the 1300s, if not before, when a general market was operating in the ward of Billingsgate between London Bridge and the Tower of London. It became a fish market in the 1700s, and a purpose-built market building was constructed in 1850, and rebuilt in 1877.
Jason Holland. Billingsgate fish market – which is the oldest fish market in the U.K. capital of London and what was once the world's largest fish market – is set to close in 2028 after the City of London Corporation recently decided to withdraw its support.
GFW: A Guided Tour of the Billingsgate Fish Market
Who owns the billingsgate market now?
The freehold owner of the site is the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, but the City of London Corporation still runs the market; they pay an annual ground rent stipulated in an agreement between the two councils as "the gift of one fish".
Billingsgate's site near Canary Wharf is set to be transformed into some 4,000 new homes; meanwhile, Smithfield is set to be regenerated into a “cultural and commercial hub” to accompany the new London Museum, set to open next year in a once-abandoned section of the market.
Borough Market has a history spanning over a millennium and is widely considered London's oldest retail and wholesale food market. It's been operating at its current site since 1756. With over 100 stalls covering about 4.5 acres, Borough Market is also one of the largest food markets in the capital.
Tsukiji was officially opened on February 11, 1935. On the same day, Tōkyō-Shijō station (東京市場駅) was opened with tracks designed around the market area. In this year, the big three markets (Tsukiji, Kanda and Koto) began operations as Tokyo Metropolitan Government's system of Central Wholesale Markets.
Billingsgate was originally a general market for corn, coal, iron, wine, salt, pottery, fish and miscellaneous goods and does not seem to have become associated exclusively with the fish trade until the sixteenth century.
Archaeological evidence suggests that Colchester is England's oldest recorded market town, dating to at least the time of the Roman occupation of Britain's southern regions. Another ancient market town is Cirencester, which held a market in late Roman Britain.
The corporation decided in a separate vote last November to permanently close Smithfield and Billingsgate when it pulled the plug on a planned £740m relocation to a new site in the east of the capital at Dagenham, blaming rising costs.
The first Billingsgate Market building was constructed on Lower Thames Street in 1850 by the builder John Jay, and the fish market was moved off the streets into its new riverside building.
The oldest streets in London are those following the Roman – and even pre-Roman – roads out of London, including Watling Street and Old Street. Many believe the oldest street in medieval London to be Cloth Fair, which runs alongside the Romanesque church of St Bartholomew the Great.
London's Borough Market serves as the location of the Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Dating back to the 12th century, its centuries-old buildings and bustling atmosphere make it the perfect place to hide a magical pub!
Today, there are almost 12,700 supermarkets in the UK, with the largest chain being Co-op Food – the brand that launched Britain's first supermarket 76 years ago. Back in 1948, the first UK self-service shop was the London Co-operative Society's unique store in Manor Park, in the East End borough of Newham.
The City of London Corporation's Court of Common Council has attributed the decision to abandon relocation to high inflation and increasing construction costs that have made the switch unaffordable. The fish market's origins date back to the 1700s, making it the oldest fish market in the city.
London's Billingsgate Fish Market, owned by the City of London Corporation, is the largest inland fish market in the UK. Regent Hill, a waste management and recycling company, takes advantage of the large amount of used fish boxes occurring at the market place.
Billingsgate Market is in Poplar, in the London Docklands in south-east London. It's easy to get to the fish market: Poplar and Blackwall DLR stations are five minutes' walk away, and Canary Wharf Tube station (Jubilee and Elizabeth lines) is 10 minutes away on foot.
