After some 900 years, the iconic Smithfield market will close its doors in 2028 with the future of the traders uncertain

The City of London Corporation has shelved plans to relocate Smithfield and Billingsgate fish markets to a £1 billion development in Dagenham. | ITV News London

London's historic Smithfield meat market is at risk of being closed for good at a vote in the City of London. The City of London Corporation, which owns and operates the site, has previously planned to relocate the market and Billingsgate fish market to a new £1 billion development in Dagenham.

There has been a meat market on the site for more than eight centuries, but after 2028 that is set to change after a corporation vote put an end to its ownership.

The Smithfield site is particularly historic. Meat has been traded from the same spot since the 14th century. Billingsgate boasts similar antiquity, but its ancient home near London Bridge was closed in 1982 in favour of a larger site in the Docklands.

Smithfield Market is located in the City of London, near the Barbican, St Paul's Cathedral and St Bartholomew's Hospital, and dates back to the 10th century

The City Corporation had previously planned to relocate Smithfield and Billingsgate fish market to a new site in Dagenham. The corporation is recommending the market is shut down and that traders are offered compensation payments.

There’s been a market at Smithfield for more than 800 years, with the corporation given the right to run the meat market and other wholesale food markets back in 1327. The current market site was built in 1868, with Billingsgate designed by the same architect when it was redeveloped in the 19th century.

Billingsgate is the largest inland fish market in the UK, with an average of 25,000 tonnes of fish and fish products sold there every year. The original market traded in Lower Thames Street in the City for 900 years, before moving to its current site in Poplar, east London, in 1982.

London’s historic Smithfield meat market to close - The City of London Corporation has shelved plans to relocate Smithfield and Billingsgate fish markets to a £1 billion development in Dagenham.