New Covent Garden Market

'New Covent Garden Market' is the largest wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market in the UK. Located in Nine Elms between Vauxhall and Battersea, South West London, the Market covers a site of 57 acres (230,670 m²) and is home to approximately 200 fruit, vegetable and flower companies.

The Market serves 40%^[1] of the fruit and vegetables eaten outside of the home in London and provides ingredients to many of London's top restaurants, hotels, schools, prisons, hospitals and catering businesses. The Flower Market, which offers an extensive range of flowers, plants, foliages, sundries and interior decorations from the UK and from around the globe, is visited by 75%^[2] of florists in London, many of whom place morning orders and return to restock during the day as needed.

General Information

The Market is open from 3am to 11am Monday to Friday and 4am to 10am on Saturdays.

There is a £4.00 entry fee for visitors driving to the Market, but once inside there is plenty of available parking.

The nearest London Underground station is Vauxhall on the Victoria Line. Vauxhall also has a railway station, with good connections to Waterloo and Clapham Junction and a large bus station with buses departing frequently to destinations all across London.

History

The Market is run by a statutory corporation,^[3] Covent Garden Market Authority, set up in 1961 and charged with modernising and overseeing the administration of the vegetable market, which was considered strategically important as a wholesale food and flower market.

The Market opened for the first time on 11 November 1974, construction having started in 1971 on the site of the former Nine Elms Locomotive Works. The Market is so called because it transferred directly from its previous location at Covent Garden in central London.

References

1. ^ http://www.newcoventgardenmarket.com/market
2. ^ http://www.newcoventgardenmarket.com/market
3. ^ http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmpubacc/409/40905.htm

External links

• New Covent Garden Market website.

Coordinates: 51°28′41″N 0°08′07″W / 51.47807°N 0.13527°W / 51.47807; -0.13527