Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB Published: 9 November 2007
Greg Lawrence, 32, as featured in FHM
Choice cuts
THEY’VE swapped meat cleavers and stained white coats for Armani coats and moisturiser as they pose for fashion shots for a glossy men’s magazine.
Thanks to the public inquiry into their market’s future, the butchers of Smithfield are suddenly big news.
They lead a topsy-turvey life. By night they are up to their elbows in hunks of meat but by day they are tucked up in bed. Now these specimens of all things manly have posed for the magazine FHM.
To attract the attention of “real men” readers, the magazine has replaced their usual chisel-jawed bronzed catwalk Adonises with men from the most masculine professions.
Deemed to fit the bill, the butchers of Smithfield and Borough markets were asked to model winter coats to reflect the al-fresco nature of their work.
Jay Collis, 28, who works for his father’s business M&L Offals said: “I’d like to think that the shops and market will still be here in 20 years time. There’s so many rumours going round about it. That it’s going to close down. It would be a killer if it is lost from London. Smithfield is the heart of London.”