As a vital part of the UK’s meat supply chain it has been important to keep Smithfield Market running through the pandemic – it is an essential conduit between many producers and their customers. In fact, all of the City of London’s three wholesale Markets continue to operate, although not quite normally.
Smithfield Market’s customers include hospitals, care homes, schools and local butchers as well as London’s huge hospitality industry – hotels, restaurants, caterers, pubs, etc. – and so the challenge has been to divert some of the product that would normally go to the hospitality industry to the final consumer instead – meaning that the traders have started home delivery and click and collect services. This has involved a huge effort from all the workers at the Market, who now find themselves labelled as ‘key’ or ‘critical’ workers.
The Market remains open Monday to Friday from 2am to 8am. With Social distancing measures in place as appropriate it’s open to trade customers and the general public with a plentiful supply of a wide range of all types of fresh meat and other produce.