Lithograph: East Terrace, Covent Garden Market looking N. towards Opera House

Producer: Gentleman, David

Date: 1980

Accession number: 80.410

Measurements: 56.1 x 77.5 cm.

Drawn from the south of the East Terrace, David Gentleman's print looks north towards the Opera House at Covent Garden. This is one of ten lithographs of Covent Garden and Seven Dials that Gentleman made during the area's redevelopment. By the late 1960s, the wholesale fruit and flower market at Covent Garden was under threat because of the traffic it created in the West End. The Greater London Council's 1972 plan to demolish the old market buildings produced furious opposition from locals and the public. After much disagreement, Covent Garden's historic buildings were saved. The wholesale flower market moved to Nine Elms, and the refurbished historic buildings opened for shopping and leisure in 1980.