Smithfield meat market to close for good after relocation plans voted down

City of London Corporation rejects plan for new Dagenham site and will offer traders about 300m in compensation

London's historic Smithfield meat market is to close for good after the City of London Corporation voted to pull out of plans to relocate it and Billingsgate fish market to Dagenham.

The corporation, which owns and operates the central London site of the centuries-old market, had earlier this month put on hold relocation plans to a new 1bn site in Dagenham, east London, to review the financial sustainability" of the planned move.