SPITALFIELDS MARKET

Evening Star, Issue 22719, 5 August 1937, Page 13

SPITALFIELDS MARKET

ONE OF LONDON’S WONDERS The very name of Spitalfield arrests attention,‘and the market of that name has attractions peculiar to itself. Near the market are old-world houses in which hand looms still weave the silk for which Spitalfields has been famous for generations. The area of the market is so immense that 2,000 tons of produce can be passed through it daily. It is in one of the most densely-populated districts of East London, and so conveniently placed for the_ docks that it is well able to deal with the appetites of multitudes of people both in and out of London. Space and convenience are needed, for in a year some 600,000 tons of produce are sold in the market, at least one-half of that being potatoes. The market has more than 200 regular tenants. . There are enormous supplies of fruit and vegetables of all sorts, and Spitalfields might almost be called Bananaland, for the market is one of the largest centres in England for dealing with bananas. Each new warehouse has cellars heated by gas and extensively used for ripening bananas. And each' warehouse has its own electric lift.

The market cost £2,000,000, and now has an area of more than 10i acres. There are avenues of wholesalers’ stands, immense basement accommodation, a street frontage of 2,000 ft of warehouses, and a total frontage of warehouses and stands of more than li miles. The market, indeed, is like a small town in itself, and among other things it has 13 cross roads, some of which will take three vehicles abreast. There are electric lifts and passenger lifts, and you can make your way up and down and round and about and keep in touch with every part with ease and comfort. There is central heating, artificial daylight to baffle dark and foggy days, concealed electric fans to cleanse the air, and there are microphones in the auction rooms > to enable brokers sitting in their offices to get tho prices ruling at the sales. Buyers and agents can instantly communicate with any part of the world. In a remarkable building the most remarkable features are the two auction rooms, which are built on the lecture hall principle. _ They are the largest auction rooms in tho kingdom, and the system of selling fruit has almost reached perfection. Sales are held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and are conducted by six firms of brokers.

Samples of fruit are taken from bulk at the docks, catalogued, and placed in the showrooms. Each auction room has a rostrum capable of accommodat-

ing about a dozen people. In front of the rostrum rise the numbered seats in which the buyers sit comfortably smoking, and between them and the rostrum are a pair of high-speed hydraulic lifts, directly connecting with the basement and the ground floor. The lifts are loaded with samples of the consignments for sale, and the samples are plainly seen from any part of the admirably arranged room. The moment a lot is sold the lift containing it is lowered and the other lift rises and show’s the next_ sample, so there is practically a continuous sale And there is no reserve. The swiftness of sale is astonishing. I tried to calculate the speed, says a writer. At one time the auctioneer’s hammer seemed to rival an electric drill; it was not quite that, of course, but as a fact a sample is loaded On the lift at the ground floor, raised to the auction room, the bidding taken, consignment sold, sample lowered, and dealings begun in the next lot—at an average speed of less than eight seconds, Let America lift her hat to that And it is all done with truly British lack of fuss. There is no shonting, no excitement. The London Fruit Exchange gets through its enormous business very quietly.