Covent Garden London
The heart of London's West End
Seven Dials butcher reflectsÉ
When my family established their butcher shop in Earlham Street, they could never have foreseen the environment in which our business now survives. From half a dozen butchers and poulterers in the area 50 years ago, we are the only remaining meat specialist. We see ourselves at craftsmen, not meat suppliers. We sell expertise, give advice and are able to tailor-make cuts of meat for discerning customers or for specific functions.
The changes that Covent Garden has been through have had a profound impact on the area itself and on the community, although our business continues. We have seen our customers change - we get far fewer of the indigenous population, but we have found many new customers in the young, upwardly-mobile residents that have moved into the new, expensive flats that have been built in the area over the past 30 years. We still have a number of the long-standing residents, some of whom have been our customers for even longer than 30 years.
The Seven Dials area is as busy as it was in the days of the Market. The buzz, the interesting characters and weird happenings are still here. The huge piles of fresh produce have been replaced with fashion and shoe shops, but the traffic is still as chaotic. Earlham Street is still a great place to work and to run a business. Our biggest problem is the high level of petty crime, the anti-social behaviour and the drug taking that is rampant.
Graham Portwine
Covent Garden Community Association Annual Report 2000-2001
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