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Slur to claim short-term gain motivates butchers
• CAN there be any more enduring relationship between a trade and a market than the 800-year association between the butchers and Smithfield market? The meat trade and Smithfield market are as inextricably linked as the Church of England and St Paul’s.
So to have Dan Cruickshank accuse us of being motivated by “short-term financial solutions” rather than “posterity and welfare” and of benefiting “in a short-term financial way” from the proposed redevelopment of the derelict western edge of Smithfield market is a disgraceful slur (Heritage fights Smithfield butchers’ block, November 9).
Mr Cruickshank should immediately apologise to everyone who makes a living in the market. His accusations are false and damaging, and he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself.
The market butchers support Thornfield’s development because it will regenerate the area, will aid the functioning of the market and will not conflict with its successful operation.
The development is predicated on the market butchers remaining at Smithfield for the foreseeable future. Mr Cruickshank’s friends at English Heritage, in contrast, have done nothing but undermine the butchers.
I look forward to receiving an apology from Mr Cruickshank.
In future, I hope he will remember that buildings are important but so are the people who depend on them.
Greg Lawrence
Chairman, Smithfield Market Tenants’ Association
East Market, EC1
• Some years ago, a group of Americans sitting beside me were amazed at how Smithfield’s historic buildings were not treasured, but boarded up and subjected to deliberate neglect.
If the meat traders think having the dreadful proposed new building there will help secure their future, they’re gravely mistaken. Developers are never satisfied, but are ever greedy for profit at the expense of history, tradition and beauty.
The proposed development is another example of the kind of globo-tat which could be anywhere. It doesn’t say “London” or even “Britain”. It could be in Berlin, Israel or Singapore. Do we want our city to lose its unique charm and become dull, like so many other places?
Eddie Chambers
Portland Road, W11
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