[HN Gopher] London's 850-year-old food markets to close
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London's 850-year-old food markets to close
Author : kepler471
Score : 33 points
Date : 2024-11-27 21:36 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.co.uk)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.co.uk)
| cjs_ac wrote:
| > The decision to close the markets and offer traders
| compensation was made by the Corporation's Court of Common
| Council.
|
| > The Corporation will now have to file a Private Bill in
| Parliament as it seeks to absolve itself of the legal
| responsibility of running the markets.
|
| _The Corporation_ in this case is the Corporation of the City of
| London, which is the local government authority for the City of
| London, which is only the part of London that is within the walls
| of Roman Londinium. The Parliamentary Bill may very well not
| pass, in which case the Corporation may be in something of a
| pickle.
| hi_hi wrote:
| This makes me deeply sad. I use to live near to the market on St
| Johns Street, which is a direct route to the Smithfield. There
| was once a burst water main that serviced a nearby hospital that
| caused St Johns Street to be closed down as the flood uncovered
| bones which needed to be excavated and investigated. They
| eventually were identified as cattle bones which were a few
| hundred years old, from when the road was nothing but dirt and
| would have hundreds of animals pass along it on the way to the
| market for sale and slaughter.
|
| It's also a beautiful and historic building and site.
|
| I'm not sure what led to the decision to close it, but I can only
| assume it was for commercial interests of some form, and will
| eventually be turned into souless apartments, and the surrounding
| businesses, bars, pubs and nightclubs will also fall into
| decline.
| paxys wrote:
| > The original market first traded in Lower Thames Street in the
| City in 1327, before moving to its current site in Poplar, east
| London, in 1982.
|
| So the "850 year old" food market is actually a 42 year old
| market, and will likely continue to operate from a different
| location as it has done many times in the past.
| cjs_ac wrote:
| The market as an institution is 850 years old; the building
| that currently houses that institution is 42 years old. The
| market is not a place; it is the activity in which people
| engage in that place.
| hi_hi wrote:
| No, this was a bit confusing. I think this may have been
| talking about Billingsgate, the fish market. Smithfields is a
| meat market, and has been at that site in one form or another
| for hundreds of years.
|
| Edit, to help clarify as other comments also appear to get this
| wrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithfield,_London#Market
| walterbell wrote:
| Need a City quant PhD to invent a mathematical analog of Black-
| Scholes [1] for pricing and trading the irreplaceable value of
| culturally significant physical spaces to future generations.
| Then City-like [2] institutions can compete financially for
| ongoing preservation rights, rather than one-time chop shop
| sales.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black%E2%80%93Scholes_model
|
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London
| petesergeant wrote:
| > "It means there's no fish market for London, which would mean
| the populace of London would have to resort to using local
| fishmongers"
|
| I mean, or Tesco?
| ToucanLoucan wrote:
| > "empowers traders to build a sustainable future in premises
| that align with their long-term business goals"
|
| After referencing my corporatese translation book, I believe this
| means "Traders can get fucked we have money to make."
| vr46 wrote:
| Super sad, have spent a long of time in the area from riding
| right through the middle of it and parking my motorbike under it,
| to wolfing Turkish lunches and drinking in the pubs (not on the
| same day, drink-driving mavens). It is a bit of anomaly in the
| modern London, hard to get to and surrounded by roads that aren't
| really fit for purpose anymore, but it's these incongruous spots
| that make things interesting. I remember the butcher on the main
| Farringdon Road just near the Charterhouse St junction, who was
| somewhat of a character, scoffing at my suggestion that he would
| even consider buying meat from Smithfield - literally around the
| corner - which confused and amused me at the same time.
|
| I note the haughty remarks of other commenters who are neither
| familiar with the area or the ability to read, and suggest they
| pay a virtual visit to the spots in question
| nothercastle wrote:
| Real estate developer looking to build build flats for Chinese
| and Russian investors. Gotta love the grift
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