On this day… 26 June

By Sally Sellers

Official opening of New Covent Garden Market

• 26 June 1975 - Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh officially opened New Covent Garden Market in Nine Elms, the largest wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market in the UK. The charter for the original Covent Garden market was granted by Charles II in 1670. From the 1800’s, the market was booming and its buildings expanding, leading to ever-worsening congestion. In 1961, Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) was created to modernise the market. Work finally began on the Nine Elms site ten years later and trading began in the new market in November 1974. The market today is home to nearly 200 businesses and about 2,500 employees and is once again undergoing a major modernisation. In line with the “field to fork” philosophy of many of the restaurants it serves, New Covent Garden Market has the first fully Red Tractor accredited supply chain in the UK, sends no waste to landfill and helps supply City Harvest with produce to help feed Londoners in need.