Smithfield Poultry Market, Grade II listed market hall in City of London, United Kingdom
Smithfield Poultry Market is a protected historic building designed as a covered marketplace with tall open halls and an upper gallery level. The gallery contains offices while the main floor below holds rows of trading stalls where vendors work.
The present building was completed in 1963 following a major fire in 1958 that destroyed the original Victorian structure. Its reconstruction used modern construction methods to replace the earlier market hall on the same location.
The market has long served as a meeting point where London's traders and buyers gathered daily to exchange poultry and provisions. This trading tradition continues to define the daily rhythm and social connections within the halls.
The building has nine loading bays positioned on the north and south sides to manage the flow of deliveries and goods movement efficiently. Underground storage areas beneath the hall provide extra space for handling merchandise.
The roof is an impressive concrete shell dome that spans across the entire space without internal supports, representing one of Europe's largest of its kind. This extraordinary thin concrete shell was an engineering achievement of its time and demonstrates the advanced techniques used in the 1960s.
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