Covent Garden market, London 1970
$20.00
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A superb snapshot of Covent Garden in its final years as London’s wholesale fruit and vegetable market. By 1970 the area was still a hive of pre-dawn activity, with mountains of potatoes, cabbages, onions and crates stacked high beneath the colonnades of St Paul’s Church — the Actors’ Church — designed by Inigo Jones in 1633.
The shops behind the pillars, including long-established traders like George Shuter Ltd and M.M. Proctor, catered to the market’s wholesalers, porters and buyers. The whole piazza would have echoed with the calls of barrow boys, the rumble of handcarts and lorries, and the unmistakable smell of produce.
Only a few years later, in 1974, the entire market moved to Nine Elms, leaving Covent Garden free for the huge regeneration that would turn it into the shopping and entertainment district we know today.
About Retro Stock Photography
Retro Stock Photography specializes in genuine vintage color photographs from the 1950s through the 1990s, all available as royalty-free instant downloads. Our photos are popular for editorial features, books, magazines, websites, documentaries, advertising, social media, local history projects, creative design, and as unique gifts when printed.
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