'800-year-old tradition' meat market closes in central London, UK

Smithfield Market, an 800-year-old meat market in the financial center of London, England, has disappeared into history.

On the 26th, the City of London Steering Committee, the owner and operator of Smithfield Market, reaffirmed its policy to close the Billingsgate Fish Market in Smithfield and Canary Wharf.

The steering committee explained that merchants in the two markets will be able to operate until 2028 and that it plans to provide economic compensation to them.

Earlier, a plan to move the two markets by developing a Dagenham site outside east London at a cost of 1 billion pounds and about 1.8 trillion won was pushed forward, but it was withdrawn due to soaring construction costs.

Smithfield Market is the only traditional wholesale market in the heart of London's city centre and a historic site that has operated since medieval London.

According to the plan, the Smithfield market site will be redeveloped as a cultural complex, including a museum, and Billingsgate will be redeveloped as a residential area.Authorities in

cited changes in people's eating habits and increased online transactions as reasons for the change.