Event: Smithfield Street Theatre

Invisible person, Donald, during the dress rehearsal

9th December 2013

Invitation from Save Britain's Heritage

On Wednesday, 11th December SAVE Britain's Heritage invites you to enjoy some street theatre around Smithfield Market, London with Invisible People, between 17.00 and 19.00.

The story of the market will be told, and the present threat that hangs over the General Market and Annex, in the run up to a public inquiry that will determine their fate in February next year.

Invisible People is a production from 3rd Thought theatre company.

Invisible People - dressed all in white - will be standing at points around the market (one on Holborn Viaduct, one on either side of the Grand Avenue that runs through the Central Market) and will tell the story of the market to passers-by, one on one.

Among them will be the architect Sir Horace Jones, risen from the dead to rail against plans proposed by Hendersons Global Investors to demolish most of the General Market and replace its magnificent market halls with office blocks, to be matched by another towering over the next-door annex.

SAVE staff and volunteers will be around the site engaging with the public and giving out information.

Smithfield General Market was built in the late 19th Century by City Surveyor Sir Horace Jones, architect of Billingsgate and Leadenhall markets and Tower Bridge. Together with the meat and poultry markets the General Market makes up the grandest processions of market buildings in Europe. It is a public asset, owned by the City of London Corporation. They have let it lie empty for some 15 years.

The Public Inquiry is being fought by SAVE Britain's Heritage and the Victorian Society against the GLA, the City of London, and Hendersons Global Investors. The Secretary of State called it in for Public Inquiry in September this year.

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