On 11 November 1974, the fruit and vegetable merchants late of Covent Garden found themselves south of the river, and with a roof over their heads. A pretty big roof, at that.
For three centuries before — since King Charles II issued the Earl of Bedford a charter for a market — Covent Garden had been a roistering piazza of traders, selling mountains of green, potatoes, fruits and flowers — not to mention some extremely impressive basket balancing — in the heart of London.
The new site for the much-expanded market — purpose built, and with its own offices, banks and restaurants — was chosen in 1964 (the same year that the original market was made world famous by the movie adaptation of My Fair Lady). A decade later, the newfangled market finally became a reality, with 300 traders playing their part in a wholesale operation which scooped in some £65m in fruit and veg, and another £14m in flowers — a combined total of £1.2bn in today's money.
Photographer Clive Boursnell has been capturing the fruit and vegetable markets of Covent Garden for 57 years — both at its original Covent Garden location, and then at Nine Elms. Indeed, he photographed both Covent Garden's last day of trading, and New Covent Garden's first. Over half a century on, the new market might not be so new anymore, but — following an overhaul — remains the UK's largest wholesale market for fruit, vegetables and flowers, and a fascinating place to visit, provided you can drag yourself out of bed early enough.
On 18,19, 22 and 23 September 2025, 450 of Clive's favourite images of the market will be on display, as part of the free exhibition, Wholesale Market Life: Through the Lens of Clive Boursnell.
The exhibition is open from 6am-12pm on each of these days, in the atrium of the Food Exchange. Just show up. And buy yourself the ingredients for a nice salad while you're there.
All images © Clive Boursell
