By the time most Londoners rolled out of bed on Monday morning, Garry Marshall was already winding down for the day at New Covent Garden Market.
Located on the south bank of the River Thames, surrounded by skyscrapers that sparkle at the dawn of winter, this wholesale market is the UK’s largest wholesale market for fruit, vegetables and flowers.
“This is London’s best-kept secret,” Joe Blair, the market’s general manager, told AFP on the occasion of the 50th anniversary.
London’s historic Covent Garden Produce Market moved from central London to the south-west suburb of Battersea on 11 November 1974 for expansion and modernization.
Marshall has worked in the market for more than 45 years, with around 200 companies supplying London’s local grocery stores, restaurants, hotels and offices.
He is the third generation of his family involved in the market and his son George will succeed him in running the Bebington Salad business.
“New Covent Garden is part of us. It will be part of my son’s life and it will probably be part of my grandson’s life,” he said.
“To be honest, once you’re in there, you’re there for life,” says Mr Marshall, who is also chairman of the New Covent Garden Tenants Association.
Chris Ratcliffe—Bloomberg/Getty Images
“Like magic”
The “day” for the approximately 2,000 employees at New Covent Garden begins in the evening at around 10pm (22:00 GMT), with produce arriving from Europe and around the world.
“Get here at 10 o’clock, have a cup of tea and watch the produce arrive.
“And then it happens. Then there’s a buzz. The market is alive,” Marshall said with a twinkle in his eye.
Traders sell their produce in the ‘old-fashioned’ way until the early hours of the morning, face-to-face, and when the sun rises they ship it across the capital and south-east England.
“So by the time people get out of bed and walk into hotels and offices and schools and government buildings, it’s there…it’s like magic,” Marshall said.
Wanda Goldwag, chairman of the Covent Garden Market Authority, which manages New Covent Garden Market, said: “If you come here at 1, 2 or 3 in the morning, you’re in a small city with hundreds of people. It’s like,” he says.
This vast complex also has its own cafe and post office, open from 3am to 1pm.
Mr Marshall said late night shifts, introduced a decade ago to eliminate daytime commercial traffic in the congested British capital, were making it difficult to attract younger generations.
But the market and its vendors have weathered many storms over the past half-century.
When demand slumped at the end of the 20th century due to the growth of supermarkets, New Covent Garden turned its attention to the hospitality industry instead.
Chris Ratcliffe—Bloomberg/Getty Images
relevance
The market is still home to Michelin-starred restaurants, celebrity chefs and luxury London landmarks such as retailers Harrods and Claridge’s Hotel.
One of their loyal customers is French chef Pierre Koffman. He used to frequent the market when he ran La Tante Claire, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in London.
“I was happy to come here and meet different people and talk about vegetables,” Coffman told AFP.
Now he mainly comes to buy flowers that the CGMA says supplies 75 per cent of London’s florists, from bunches of pink-purple hydrangeas to crates of roses and tulips. It’s coming.
For Goldwag, staying relevant is one of the main challenges.
“I mean, a lot of us are buying our food at the supermarket right now. And of course, in tough economic times, everyone becomes very money conscious,” she said.
“Wholesale markets need to remain relevant and sustainable.”
London’s other major wholesale markets, Smithfield Meat Market and Billingsgate Fish Market, face an uncertain future after relocation plans have been postponed.
“They may soon be out of work,” Mr Marshall lamented, adding that the new Covent Garden would “support” other markets.
But at New Covent Garden, where turnover reached £880m ($1.1bn) last year, the regeneration plan is due to be completed by the end of 2010, with leases guaranteed for at least the next 25 years. Business is doing well.
“I don’t know if we’ll still be here in 25 years,” Marshall said. “But my son definitely will.”
