A spectacular City parade of shops and bars is to be created around the new home of the London Museum in one of the former Smithfield Market buildings.
Agents have begun seeking occupiers for six historic “houses” facing outwards from the Victorian General Market which has been left empty and unused since the late Nineties.
The plan forms part of a huge regeneration of an area that has been best known as London’s fresh meat market for almost 1000 years.
Traders are due to move out of the Central Meat market by 2028 under plans from the City of London Corporation that sees Sir Horace Jones’s Grade II* listed structure form the centrepiece of a new cultural district.
But other buildings in the huge 10 acre complex in Farringdon that have been abandoned for decades are also getting a new lease of life.
The 150,000 sq ft General Market, built in the 1880s, and the Poultry Market, rebuilt in the 1960s after a devastating fire, will house the London Museum which is leaving its original home in the Barbican.
The General Market, where fruit and vegetables, fish and meat were once sold, will be the first to open in 2026 in the first phase of the £437 million relocation. It will display the museum’s permanent gallery collections. In the lower level visitors will be able to see Thameslink trains passing through a tunnel.
The six West Smithfield “houses” that wrap around the building were historically used for a range of purposes.
One was a long standing barbers, and another housed Bubbs nightclub, while another served as retail outlets for meat traders.
However, they have been empty for many years leaving the west end of the Smithfield market complex feeling neglected and run down.
The houses, which have frontages onto Farringdon Road, Charterhouse Street and West Smithfield are being restored and are now on the market. Leasing is being managed by retail and leisure consultancy Bruce Gillingham Pollard.
It is expected that they will let to a mix of independent retailers and restaurant or pub operators at street level with office space for charities, social enterprises or other organisations above.
The most spectacular house on a corner site has a distinctive turret and is likely to become a pub.
Alec Shaw, Director of New Museum Project and Estate, London Museum, said: “From the beginning of this project, our vision for the museum has been to create something for London - with Londoners - that tells the rich and vibrant story of this city.
“These street-front spaces offer us an entirely new way to do this and we’re excited to work with partners who share our love for London, whether that’s music studios, independent retailers, charities, or favourite London brands.
“As we bring the market back to public use for the first time in almost four decades, we want to bring together a community that works in symbiosis with the museum and helps us shape a major new cultural quarter.”
Tracey Pollard, founding director, leasing at Bruce Gillingham Pollard, said: “The Houses’ character, location, rich history, and positioning within a major cultural address, surrounded by global businesses, presents an entirely new concept to showcase London’s best brands.”
The second phase of the move will see the Poultry Market open in 2028. It will be home to the Museum’s temporary exhibitions and a learning centre. It was constructed to a modernist design in the early Sixties to replace a Victorian market building destroyed by fire in 1958. Its vast roof built by Ove Arup is claimed to be one of the largest concrete shell structures in the world.
