The London Market That Has Opened Before Dawn Every Day for 800 Years

Sharing is caring!

At 2am on a weekday, most of London is asleep. But inside a sprawling Victorian building near the Old Bailey, white-coated traders are stacking carcasses, shouting prices, and pushing trolleys across stone floors slick with ice.

This is Smithfield. London’s last surviving wholesale market in the heart of the city. And it has been doing this — more or less — since 1173.

Eight Centuries on the Same Patch of Ground

Smithfield — the “smooth field” beyond London’s old city walls — first appears in records as a horse and livestock market in the twelfth century. By the medieval period, it was one of the largest open-air markets in England.

Animals were driven here from across Britain. Cattle from Wales. Sheep from the Midlands. Horses from every corner of the island. The noise, the smell, and the chaos were legendary.

Charles Dickens described the area as “all asmear with filth and fat and blood and foam.” He knew Smithfield well — it appears in Oliver Twist, when Oliver first arrives at the market’s fringes and barely comprehends the scale of it.

What Dickens saw was a live animal market. That only ended in 1855, when the animals were moved to the Metropolitan Cattle Market in Islington. Today the market trades in dressed meat. The ground is the same. The smell has softened. Only just.

History’s Bloodiest Address

Before it traded meat, Smithfield was where London dealt in death.

William Wallace — the Scottish rebel leader, later romanticised in the film Braveheart — was executed here in 1305. Hanged, drawn, and quartered outside the church of St Bartholomew the Great. The crowd was enormous. The spectacle was deliberate.

During the reign of Mary I, Smithfield became London’s burning ground. Between 1555 and 1558, nearly 300 Protestant martyrs were burned at the stake here. The area is still known as Martyrs’ Corner. A small stone plaque marks the spot where people died for their beliefs.

Bartholomew Fair — a rowdy, raucous three-day festival held every August — ran here from 1133 to 1855. It drew the whole city: royalty, wrestlers, acrobats, and pickpockets. Ben Jonson wrote a play about it. Magistrates eventually banned it for disorder. Seven centuries of chaos, ended by a committee.

The ground beneath your feet at Smithfield carries more of London’s history than almost anywhere in the city.

The Victorian Building That Replaced the Chaos

The meat market building that stands today opened in 1868. Its architect was Sir Horace Jones — the same man who would later design Tower Bridge and Leadenhall Market. Jones had a gift for making functional buildings beautiful.

He built Smithfield in an ornate Italianate style, with red and cream brickwork, elaborate terracotta flourishes, and high clerestory windows that flood the interior with light. Inside, a soaring iron and glass structure keeps the air cool and the space vast.

On the corner turrets, look up. You’ll see dragon sculptures — silver-grey, snarling, each clutching a shield bearing the red cross of St George. These are the dragons of the City of London, the ancient heraldic symbol that marks the formal boundary of the old square mile. Most visitors walk straight past them.

The building survived the Blitz. The underground cold stores beneath Smithfield were used as a temporary morgue when the bombing was at its worst. The building endured. The trading continued.

Enjoying this? 3,000+ London lovers get stories like this every week. Subscribe free →

What Happens at 2am

The market opens at 2am and is done by 7am. By the time most Londoners are eating breakfast, the day’s work is finished and the floors are being hosed down.

The traders are called bummarees — a term that goes back centuries, thought to derive from a French word for “middle man.” They buy wholesale from the stalls and sell on to restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and catering companies across London.

The atmosphere at that hour is unlike anything else in the city. Cold air and the sharp smell of meat. Voices echoing off iron columns. Forklifts reversing. Men who have been doing this for decades moving with practised ease through a building that has barely changed in 150 years.

It is, if you catch it right, one of the most authentic things left in central London. If you are planning a visit to the area, our London trip planning guide can help you make the most of the City and beyond.

Smithfield’s Oldest Neighbour

Standing directly beside the market is St Bartholomew the Great — one of the oldest churches in London. Founded in 1123 by a monk named Rahere, it survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Great Fire, the Blitz, and 900 years of the city rebuilding itself around it.

Its Norman interior is extraordinary. Rounded arches, thick stone columns, the weight of centuries pressing down on the quiet nave. Film directors love it — Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, and The Other Boleyn Girl were all shot here.

The church and the market have been neighbours for 900 years. Monks and meat traders. Prayers and commerce. It is, somehow, a very London combination. If London’s food culture fascinates you, our guide to eating in London covers everything from street food to a proper sit-down meal.

Where Smithfield Is Going

The market’s days in their current form may be numbered. The City of London Corporation has approved plans for Smithfield’s wholesale operations to relocate to a new facility in Dagenham — ending more than 850 years of trading on this site.

In its place, the Museum of London is moving in. The transformation is already underway, and the building will be sensitively converted while preserving its Victorian bones and the remarkable dragons that watch over it.

But for now, the market trades on. The bummarees arrive before dawn. The dragons watch from their corner turrets. And London feeds itself, as it has always done, from this cold Victorian hall in the heart of the old city.

Frequently Asked Questions About Smithfield Market

Is Smithfield Market open to the public?

Smithfield is a working wholesale market, not a tourist attraction. The trading floor is for licensed buyers only during market hours (roughly 2am–7am on weekdays). However, you can walk freely around the building’s exterior at any time and explore the surrounding area, including the church of St Bartholomew the Great next door.

Where is Smithfield Market and how do I get there?

Smithfield Market is at West Smithfield, City of London, EC1A 9PS. The nearest tube stations are Barbican (Circle and Metropolitan lines) and Farringdon (Circle, Metropolitan, and Elizabeth lines), both a short walk away. It is also served by the Elizabeth line at Farringdon.

What is the best time to visit the Smithfield area?

For the market atmosphere, arrive before 6am on a weekday — though it means a very early start. For a daytime visit, come on any weekday morning: the market building exterior is always accessible, St Bartholomew the Great opens from 8.30am, and the surrounding Clerkenwell streets are lively with independent cafés and businesses from 9am.

Is Smithfield Market closing?

The wholesale meat market is expected to relocate to Dagenham in east London, ending centuries of trading on this site. The Museum of London is planned to move into the Victorian building after the market departs. No confirmed final closure date has been announced, so it is worth visiting while trading continues.

There is a version of London that exists only at 2am — older, louder, and stranger than the one tourists see. Smithfield is its heartbeat. It is worth finding before it is gone.

Sharing is caring!