As the population grew and people wanted more meat, conditions at Smithfield’s medieval market became a national disgrace.

The City finally commissioned its chief architect James Bunning to build a modern, humane marketplace on the edge of town at Islington, with all the best facilities such as watering troughs, bank offices and a central clock tower. The new Metropolitan Cattle Market opened in 1855 and was just one part of the transformation of London into the world’s largest city in the 19^th century.