PLACES
Billingsgate fish market
O
verwhelmed by the coarse of the early morning, I briskly scuttled to the relief of the shelter of the market. My jeans hung stiff from my body. Cold wet gusts of wind rattled my ribs and chilled my body down through to my lungs. For nearly four hundred years, men of the market have taken the brunt of the elements. I can barely imagine the piercing wind that penetrated the naked faces of 16th century porters. 24
Upon entering the hollowed brick warehouse I pass men with fat bellies waddling around the car park waiting eagerly for fish like the seagulls that inhabit the markets surrounding docks. I breezed through columns of boggle-eyed fish to the depths and refuge of the market. A contrast of natter and business chat met sounds of machinery and industrious clanks from pallet trucks and box dollies. A humming of trade muffled my ears as I treaded deeper and deeper into the vast commerce.
Shuddering in crisp polyester boxes, fish dusted in ice lay in wait ready to be slung to the buyers that chirp around their vans as they waited for porters to bring them the early morning catch. As fish were sold, numbers and figures were riddled inside cockney chat as “fellas” spat words to one another. Frilly sodden sheets of “wedge” flapped through the air as the notes were inattentively tossed between the men. Traditional standards of trading such as the use of hard cash and sparse
Once I’d gotten over the fact that I woud be spending the morning squelching around in fish guts, I embraced this glossy place and got stuck in...
numbers of women – if any – meant that this market, while thriving in culture and diverse species of fish still hushed an element of old-fashioned England trade. Market workers wear weathered, blood and gut stained tie-dyed bibs, almost paying homage to the tradition of the original attire that porters wore years ago when the market was first established. Buried next to the financial hub of Canary Warf, lays our countries largest in-land fish market, Billingsgate. Formally
established in the 19thcentury as the biggest fish market in the world, it’s said that the market has functioned from as early as 1600’s. Arguably the heart of London culture, Billingsgate market respires during the dark hours of the cities bleak night. A place that has seen struggle in recent years from new by-laws abolishing the role of porter, Billingsgate remains the market of generations, tradition and hard graft – yet embraces the new world, seeing larger quantities of fish
species and embraces culture from all over the world. B.C ¢ Opening Times: Monday: Closed Tuesday: 4:00–9:30 am Wednesday: 4:00–9:30 am Thursday: 4:00–9:30 am Friday: 4:00–9:30 am Saturday: 4:00–9:30 am Sunday: Closed
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