NOVEMBER 2020

New Covent Garden Market Association

New Covent Garden Market is London’s premium fruit, vegetable, fine food and flower wholesale market.

We have over 120 independent wholesale businesses under our roof, offering outstanding customer service and expertise. 

For over 800 years our Fruit & Vegetable Market has supplied the foodservice industries and now London homes with seasonal British and international fresh produce and fine foods. 

If you would like information about what’s in season, or introductions to wholesale specialists, email: hello@cgma.co.uk or call 02077202211 and ask for Meg or Cassie.

Who is your main target/customer?

As a wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower market, we supply a wide range of businesses with their fresh produce. From hospitality businesses, food retail, markets, schools, hospitals, as well as florists,

floristry schools, stylists, event planners and designers.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic the fruit and vegetable market has expanded its customer base to include the public. With a number of our wholesalers providing restaurant quality home delivery

boxes containing ranges of quality fruit, vegetables and other groceries to homes around London and the whole of the UK. We have a home delivery page on our website for all the foodies out there!

What is your view on using British ingredients?

New Covent Garden Market has sold British fruit and vegetables for over 800 years. We have a long history of working with local farmers and growers from across the UK. We believe in buying British to

support our homegrown food industry farm-to-fork - from farmers and growers, logistics and transport to our wholesale market, then to retailers and chefs and beyond. We also think British

ingredients look and taste great.

Using British ingredients is really easy to do. If you’re a chef our suppliers will be able to tell you what’s in season every week and if they don’t have something you want they will find it for you. If you’re a member of the public, you can buy from our market via our home delivery services, but if you’re out shopping in a supermarket food labelling makes it so easy to see what’s British.

Give 3 examples of how your company is sustainable?

At New Covent Garden Market, we are proud to operate a zero-waste policy. We have worked with City Harvest (http://www.cityharvest.org.uk/) over the past five years with

traders donating surplus fruit and veg to the charity, which is distributed amongst those in need. We

also work with charities Waste Not Want Not (https://www.drca.co.uk/wnwnotbattersea/) and Food

Cycle (https://www.foodcycle.org.uk/). Anything not fit for human consumption is transported to a farm in Lincolnshire to be enjoyed by some happy pigs.

We also have our own on-site recycling sorting facility where we recycle plastic, cardboard, glass and

other items.

Also, in partnership with our redevelopment construction partner Vinci St Modwen, work with our local community to help improve the lives and create long lasting, positive relationships with our

neighbours. We have worked to improve the look of our surrounding areas with local artwork and planting. We opened a community café last summer to help feed children and families during the

school holidays. This offered hot cooked, nutritious meals at a much lower price to any other local cafes or restaurants. It was also a place the community could get together for art classes, exercise

classes and dance classes.

During Covid-19 did the business have to restructure/refocus to continue trading? 

The sudden and unforeseen closure of the UK hospitality industry and the closure of many schools had a significant impact on many of our fruit and vegetable traders. The speed at which they responded to support local communities, hospitals and key workers ensuring they all had a healthy supply of nutritious fruit and vegetables (often free of charge) when the supermarkets were struggling to meet demand was simply amazing.

Also impressive was the speed in which many of them adapted their businesses to supply direct to the public. Over 30 of New Covent Garden Markets traders started offering home delivery boxes of

fruit, vegetables and other groceries. This has been so successful and the produce so highly rated that many of them intend to continue to do that indefinitely.

So, if you’d like to get a top quality New Covent Garden Market fruit and vegetable box delivered to your front door, click here.

The outstanding reviews on their websites says it all!

Why should the British public buy British?

We are passionate about fresh British fruit and vegetables. There is long been a focus on British meat and fish but fruit and vegetables from the UK are equally amazing and important.

There are so many reasons why people should buy British, but an obvious reason is because it tastes great! The quality and flavour of the British produce that comes through our market is simply

stunning. Every day we see an amazing variety of high-quality British produce go through New Covent Garden Market, and we know that the best chefs snap it up. The demand for high quality

British produce is strong.

Other reasons to buy British is to support the British economy, our environment, the countryside and rural communities. Our farmers are the custodians of our countryside. In many cases British

farmers operate to higher environmental standards than those in many other countries, they help protect the wildlife and the diversity found in our beautiful countryside. Thriving and sustainable

rural communities are also important and buying British supports them too. 

Then there is the economic benefit of supporting everyone from the farmers through to where the food ends up being

eaten. That includes our traders here at New Covent Garden Market, and also many of their customers.

There are also well published health benefits to eating seasonally, and buying British makes it easy to know you’re doing that.

How did  you take part in British Food Fortnight:

a) personally?

The New Covent Garden Market Authority team cooked up a storm using the British ingredients from our market! Some of us made a pledge to only consume British sourced and produced food and drink throughout the fortnight.

b) as a business?

We had a number of things planned but overall, we celebrated and shouted about the amazing British produce available at New Covent Garden Market! We energised our traders to share stories of their suppliers so we promoted British food with inspiring farm to fork stories showing the best British produce as it moved through our market.

We also encouraged local communities and key partners involved with our celebrations during British Food Fortnight.

Address

New Covent Garden Market

Nine Elms Lane

Nine Elms

London SW8 5BH

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