The City Corporation has announced creation of a 30-year masterplan for the Smithfield/Barbican area, focussed on re-development of the Smithfield Meat Market buildings as an international cultural and commercial hub once trading ceases in 2028. On London has a good report.
Update October 2025: Dave Hill in On London provides an exceptionally useful in-depth review of the process that led to the market closures, and collapse of the scheme to relocate to Dagenham. Consultation proposals for redevelopment of the market buildings are expected within a few months.
Update December 3 2025: the City Corporation announced that Smithfield and Billingsgate markets could both move to the Royal Docks. BBC new report. There’s no further news on re-development plans for the Smithfield market buildings.
A vision for re-development was first published in 2020. What’s new is the idea of a masterplan for the area. It could open the way to broaden and strengthen the “Culture Mile” strategy originally launched in 2017.
The City news release says that the masterplan will be developed by an 11-strong regeneration team that also has responsibility for assisting relocation of traders, and redevelopment of two other sites: Billingsgate market, which is also moving, and the Dagenham site originally intended to accommodated the relocated markets.
The masterplan proposal is a step-up from the previous move in May to create a planning brief tightly focussed on the Market buildings. Then councillors called for a wider remit.
The latest release says: “This hugely important project will involve curating a significant part of the City of London for the next 30 years”.
Adding:
“By the end of the year, the City Corporation intends to publish new imagery showcasing early concepts of how the Smithfield market site could be transformed. Subject to the successful passage of the Bill, the redevelopment of the Smithfield site will create an international cultural and commercial hub, complementing the London Museum. The Grade II listed building will be reimagined to preserve its history while evolving into modern, state-of-the-art facilities. It is projected to welcome 1.4 million visitors annually, and create 600 direct jobs”.
(A Parliamentary Bill providing for the cessation of the markets at their current sites was deposited on 27th November 2024 and is currently being considered by the House of Commons).
Smithfield Market Grand Avenue re-imagined in 2020: Studio Egret West
The decision to set up the regeneration team was taken on June 26 by the Court of Common Council in private session, so there is no public document underpinning the news release.
We don’t know the detailed brief for the regeneration team, where committee accountability will lie, or what consultation there will be.
The release does say that the masterplan will include the Annexe suite of buildings next to the new London Museum, which is due to open next year, and the London Wall West site, previous home of the Museum. There Barbican Quarter Action are fighting plans for an office-led scheme.
There have been concerns that the City Corporation would seek to make more money from a new Smithfield scheme with a larger commercial element – but the release is upbeat on the special significance of the scheme saying it “has all the ingredients needed to become the new epicentre of the Capital”, and that it “lays foundations to make Destination City a reality.”
Destination City was originally conceived as a strategy to attract more visitors to the City, but has been recast as the City Corporation’s growth plan for the Square Mile. More here.
The original Culture Mile was founded on a £350,000 study creating a Look and Feel report, which I have summarised here.
The City Policy Chief at the time, Catherine McGuinness, told City Matters:
“We want to create a ‘Cultural Spine’ running from the site of the new museum in West Smithfield through Long Lane, Beech Street and on to Moorgate through Silk Street.
“The Cultural Spine will prioritise pedestrian movement, offering better connections at ground level, direct routes, improved air quality creating a healthier environment, and providing visitors with the confidence to wander and explore”.
The City Corporation team developing Culture Mile was disbanded, and a Culture Mile Business Improvement District established. While the BID supports many excellent cultural activities, has a public realm strategy, and a community fund, it is an independent body funded by businesses and doesn’t have a strategic remit to realise on its own the new vision emerging for the Smithfield/Barbican area.
The masterplanning is an opportunity to refresh and broaden the idea.
The opening of London Museum will bring some 2-3 million additional visitors to Farringdon/Smithfield, and redevelopment of the Market building will remove the centuries-old barrier between Smithfield and Clerkenwell.
The recently-published Clerkenwell Footways map shows north-south linkages between the two areas, and highlights cultural and heritage assets like The Charterhouse just across the border. The London Archives and Museum of St John are not far away.
I don’t think visitors to the Museum – and the Smithfield cultural hub – will be conscious of the City-Islington boundary, and there would be great benefits in promoting a wider EC1/2 Cultural Quarter.
A few years ago a group including Great St Barts and Barts Hospital started a joint initiative with Clerkenwell attractions – and I believe this audio tour was one output.
I can appreciate that the City Corporation will want to make the most of the new Smithfield for the Square Mile. But if it is to be “the new epicentre of the Capital” it could be even more attractive if part of a package with its immediate neighbour.
See the right sidebar for more posts on Smithfield, Culture Mile, Destination City, and Public realm.
Afterthought: maybe a strengthened Culture Mile could emerge from the masterplanning exercise – to avoid the need for BID rebranding – while also exploring the scope for a wider Cultural Quarter. Clerkenwell is covered by the Central District Alliance BID, which is managed by Primera, the company that also manages the Culture Mile BID. Maybe that opens the way for additional cross-border connections.
The newsletter link and LinkedIn posts on the Culture Mile BID site highlight the wide range of activities it is supporting, and a Footways map shows the attractions in the area. Lots to build on.
Update: The Culture Mile BID’s Midsummer Fayre was great fun on July 10
Culture Mile Business Improvement District made the most of the City's Postman's Park for a Midsummer Fayre – Morris dancers, Minstels, Birds of Prey, Flower Crown Workshop plus tokens for free food and drink. The park is worth a visit any time tinyurl.com/ywch9ztr 1/2 @thecityofldn.bsky.social
— David Wilcox (@davidwilcox.bsky.social) July 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
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2/2 Here's the Morris Dancers
— David Wilcox (@davidwilcox.bsky.social) July 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
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