Old Billingsgate Market
Billingsgate Fish Market stood near here during the 16th and 17th centuries but did not become formally established until 1699 when an Act of Parliament made it to be "a free and open market for all sorts of fish whatsoever".
The market was on the streets, and it "consisted only of shed buildings... The open space on the north of the well-remembered Billingsgate Dock was dotted with low booths and sheds, with a range of wooden houses with a piazza in front on the west, which served the salesmen and fishmongers as shelter, and for the purposes of carrying on their trade."
In 1850 the first Billingsgate Market building was constructed on Lower Thames Street by the builder John Jay, and the fish market was moved off the streets into its new building. An Italian-revival building uncomfortably close, as Nicholas Bentley points out, to Osborne House, Queen Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight.
Bunning's buildings was soon found to be insufficient for the increased trade, and in 1872 the Corporation obtained an Act to rebuild and enlarge the market, which was done to plans by Bunning's successor as City architect Sir Horace Jones. The new site covered almost twice the area of the old, incorporating Billingsgate Stairs and Wharf and Darkhouse Lane. Work began in 1874, and the new market was opened by the Lord Mayor on 20 July 1877.
In 1982, the fish market itself was relocated to a new site on the Isle of Dogs in east London, and in 1875 building was refurbished to provide office accommodation. However, it is now used as an events venue, it remains a major London landmark and a notable Grade II listed building.
