A Secret Beautiful and Fragrant Paradise—The New Covent Garden Market

We all may know that there is an open market called Covent Garden housing many fashion boutiques, selling countless flowers and ranking as an indispensable destination in London. Nevertheless, there is a place called the New Covent Garden Market in London. The London authorities have also taken it as the site for the relocation of the Covent Garden Market. Hence its name is the New Covent Garden Market.

When I was traveling in the UK, my daughter, a designer, planned to take me to a place imbued with beauty and fragrance which was rarely known to ordinary tourists. The suggestion highly prompted my curiosity. What she took me to was the New Covent Garden Market-- the largest flower market in London. Seventy-five percent flowers sold in flower shops in London come from there. Since it is a wholesaling flower market, it is an unfamiliar name to ordinary tourists.

The New Covent Garden Market situates itself in the area of Nine Elms, in southwest London and between Vauxhall and Battersea. Covering an area of 23 ha., the market stands as the largest fruit, vegetable and flower wholesale market in the UK.

The New Covent Garden Market was opened on November 11, 1974. The former Nine Elms Locomotive Works had been rebuilt in 1971 because the entire market was established to directly transfer the flower business of the Covent Garden in central London to the new site.

After its opening, the New Covent Garden Market has seen good business and has been gradually accepted by the customers who go there to buy flowers in bulk. In terms of the popularity of worldwide flower markets, the New Covent Garden Market is only second to Aalsmeer Flower Market in Netherlands.

More than 200 enterprises have been registered there, offering employment to more than 2,500 and 75% of wholesaling flowers in London. The flowers there are not retailed but purchased by at least 10-12 generally. In accordance with the order, the market wholesales flowers to the flower shops in London at daybreak so that all the shops have flowers to sell.

At 4 or 5 o’clock before daybreak, the flower market starts business and large flower shops will dispatch vehicles to transport the ordered flowers or ask the wholesalers to deliver the flowers directly to their shops; the purchasers of small flower shops will drive their mini vans to select flowers in season; even the curbside newspaper and flower stand owners will come there to select a few bunches and sell them at the entrance of the subway station. When the city begins to wake up at about 8:30 a.m., the market will be closed. By that time the flowers have been silently delivered to all the outlets in London, gorgeously awaiting the favor of the customers.

In addition to flowers, the New Covent Garden Market also sells agricultural produce including fruits and vegetables etc. The distribution center of flowers and food materials and the best place most frequented by floral designers and gourmets in London, the market supplies 40% of the top restaurants, hotels, schools, prisons and hospitals in London with fruits, vegetables and flowers etc.

The New Covent Garden Market is not merely the wholesaling market for flower shops but also for housewives getting up early and those who walk there after their morning exercise. They come there to buy a large bunch of flowers to decorate their house at the minimum wholesale price which is sometimes one fifth of the retail price.

To retain freshness, it was designed as an enclosed thermostat market. The flowers, plants, leaves, sundries and interior ornaments supplied in the market come from the UK or from all over the whole world. We were all amazed at the variety of flowers we found there!

All assortments of flowers, too many to see, were sold in the market, not only good-looking but also ideal for photography. So we took photos of the flowers with both mobile phones and cameras.

The flowers there featured a complete variety which could not be compared to the domestic flower market. There were dozens of kinds of rose and more than a dozen types of peony and Chinese herbaceous peony. Whatever flowers you could imagine were available there.

I had limited knowledge of flowers. I didn’t know the names of many flowers and I had never seen many flowers before at home. Since all the flowers in the wholesale market were all packaged in bunches, not a single flower, apart from the large ones, was independently packaged. The upmarket orchids and tulips of all assortments etc. were stored in separate boxes to prevent any damage during the delivery.

There were also many plants, big and small, for appreciation, and various vine plants for flower arrangement etc. In the market we also found many delicate miniature gardens. The shelves were dotted with all sorts of plants and flowers in addition to colorful vases in diverse shapes to match the flowers. Flowerpots of porcelain, glass, wood or metal were also supplied there. You could easily buy all ornaments matching the flowers in the market. It also sold books on flowers and colors. No wonder so many websites listed the New Covent Garden Market as one of the indispensable worldwide large flower markets for professional flower arrangers and flower designers etc.

There was also a coffee shop in the New Covent Garden Market where the tourists could have a rest, drink coffee, taste light refreshments and indulge themselves in the colorful flowers of intoxicating fragrance.

If you feel bored with the accustomed antiquity and nobility of London during your travel there, you can have a tour in the New Covent Garden Market which will definitely exert exceedingly strong visual impact on you and bring you the different travel experience.

Words & Pictures /Traveler Laohu