Covent Garden Market Authority

What Covent Garden Market Authority does

Covent Garden Market Authority (CGMA) is a UK public authority that owns and operates New Covent Garden Market, a 38-acre wholesale market site in Nine Elms, London, established at its current location in 1974. CGMA functions as the statutory landlord and market operator, providing physical infrastructure, distribution blocks, rail arches, and trading facilities to 137 independently operated wholesale businesses across four components: the Fruit & Vegetable Market (operating 10pm–6am weekdays), the Flower Market (4am–10am), the Food & Drink Market, and the Food Exchange (which includes Mission Kitchen, a shared kitchen and co-working hub for food entrepreneurs). The aggregate annual turnover of all tenant businesses operating within the market was £944 million, described as a record figure.

CGMA's direct revenue is generated through commercial property rental to its 137 tenants and through wholesale trading commissions and operational charges for market infrastructure and services. Tenancy is diversified across fresh produce wholesalers, florists, specialist food traders, and food entrepreneurs. End-buyer reach extends across London and South East England, supplying three-quarters of London's florists, luxury hospitality (Harrods, Claridge's, Royal Households, Michelin-starred restaurants), healthcare (NHS, London Zoo), sports and education (Tottenham Hotspur FC, Westminster Kingsway College), and major retailers. Marketing channels include the Market Quarterly publication, social media (Facebook, Instagram, X), and earned media partnerships with PR agencies and industry bodies such as British Food Fortnight and the FPC Fresh Awards.

The market is undergoing a multi-year redevelopment with new units scheduled for 2026, alongside ecosystem extensions including the Mission Kitchen entrepreneur hub, the En Route Fruit direct-delivery service launched by tenant Bevington Salads in 2025, and an online Find a Wholesaler directory. Notable tenants and suppliers include Watts Farms (nearly 200 employees across 10 sites in Kent, Essex, and Bedfordshire), County Supplies (600+ customers, 2,500+ produce lines, 99.8% delivery rate), G's Group (£700m turnover, largest British-grown supplier into the market), and the Thorogoods Group (British fresh produce since 1922). CGMA has no parent company, no funding rounds, and is structured as a government state entity.

Name

Covent Garden Market Authority

Legal name

Covent Garden Market Authority

Website

https://newcoventgardenmarket.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1974

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Covent Garden Market Authority is a UK public authority that operates New Covent Garden Market — a 38-acre wholesale site in Nine Elms, London — housing 137 tenant businesses across fruit & vegetables, flowers, food & drink, and a food entrepreneur hub, supplying London's hospitality, floristry, and retail sectors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Wholesale Food and Flower Market

NAICS

Nursery and Floriculture Production (11142), Greenhouse, Nursery, and Floriculture Production (1114)

SIC

Wholesale-Groceries & Related Products (5140)

akta.pro primary industry

Terminal Market / Produce Market Wholesalers (AFAIACAK)

Keywords

• Wholesale produce market
• Wholesale flower market
• Commercial market rental
• Food business workspace
• Fresh produce distribution

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Commercial property rental: The primary revenue comes from renting market space and units to 137 wholesale businesses across Fruit & Vegetable Market, Flower Market, and Food Exchange
2. Wholesale trading commissions: Market-based trading fees and operational charges for market infrastructure and services supporting wholesale transactions between traders and buyers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Covent Garden Market Authority manages New Covent Garden Market, a 38-acre physical wholesale marketplace in Nine Elms for fruit, vegetables, flowers, food and drink. It rents space to wholesale businesses and provides trading infrastructure, Food Exchange workspace and production kitchens, and buyer-supplier access for trade customers across London and South East England.

Product overview

New Covent Garden Market is a unified wholesale market platform comprising the Fruit & Vegetable Market, Flower Market, and Food & Drink Market sections, serving 137 businesses across 38 acres in London. The Food Exchange component includes Mission Kitchen for food entrepreneurs. Market Quarterly is a publication covering market activities. The market's digital presence includes an online wholesaler directory and En Route Fruit (a tenant-operated online ordering app).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mission Kitchen: Shared kitchen and co-working space for small food businesses at the Food Exchange
• Food Exchange
• The Garden Wall

Products and services

• Commercial Market Space Rental
• Fruit & Vegetable Market
• Flower Market
• Food & Drink Market
• Food Exchange

Quantifiable outcome

• Three-quarters of London's florists are supplied by the Flower Market
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• G's Group / G's FreshcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025The £700m G's Group is the UK's largest independent grower of salads and vegetables, with an extremely close relationship with market tenant Side Salads. G's supplies products year-round from UK growing operations and facilities in Spain and Senegal. G's is noted as the largest supplier of British-grown fresh produce into New Covent Garden Market.
• Sunny Side Up PR AgencycoreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2024PR and communications agency that helped execute the 50th anniversary campaign, which generated over 530 pieces of media coverage worldwide.
• British Food Fortnight (Love British Food)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023New Covent Garden Market is an official partner of British Food Fortnight 2023, celebrating British growers and suppliers. Activities include supplying teaching packs to local schools, student chef programmes at Westminster Kingsway College, and promoting British produce throughout the fortnight.
• Westminster Kingsway CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Student chef initiative where NCGM traders supply a different British fruit or vegetable each month for students to study and incorporate into dishes for on-site restaurants.
• Thorogoods (S Thorogood & Sons Ltd)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of the Thorogoods Group, which has been growing and selling quality British fresh produce since 1922. Working with regenerative growers including Laurence J Betts to promote sustainable and responsible agriculture.
• Hawksmoor Restaurant GroupminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFine dining restaurant chain that supports British farming through regenerative partnerships. Works with Rushton's (Thorogoods Group member) for produce supply.
• Watts FarmscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorFamily-run fresh produce growers operating 10 sites across Kent, Essex and Bedfordshire, farming over 600 hectares. Supplies retail, wholesale, foodservice industry, NHS, and major retailers from New Covent Garden Market.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Billingsgate Market: London's wholesale seafood market, the UK counterpart to Covent Garden for fish. Operates as a regulated wholesale market authority serving London hospitality, making it the most structurally comparable peer for CGMA's market-authority business model.
• Western International Market: West London's wholesale produce market serving independent retailers and caterers. Direct regional competitor for restaurant and greengrocer supply in the London catchment.
• Marché International de Rungis: The world's largest wholesale food market serving Paris and the Île-de-France region. The international benchmark for terminal-market operations, offering fresh produce, meat, fish, and flowers — directly analogous to CGMA's combined market offering.
• New Spitalfields Market: East London's wholesale fruit and vegetable market, operated by a public authority. Direct competitor for London restaurant and retailer produce supply, sharing CGMA's terminal-market operating model and customer base.
• Smithfield Market: Historic London wholesale meat market, also operated as a market authority under the same statutory framework as CGMA. Comparable as a publicly-managed wholesale food market serving London hospitality.

Regional players

• Mercabarna: Barcelona's wholesale food complex covering produce, fish, meat, and flowers. Closely comparable as a publicly-managed multi-product wholesale hub serving a major Mediterranean hospitality market.
• Birmingham Wholesale Market: Midlands wholesale produce market serving the Birmingham region. Mirrors CGMA's terminal-market operator model and customer mix of caterers and independent retailers, but in a separate geographic territory.
• Borough Market: London's prominent wholesale-to-retail food market. While more retail-skewed and South London-based, it competes for the same chef and restaurateur footfall and operates a similar physical-trading-plus-events model.
• Manchester Wholesale Market: Northern England's principal wholesale produce market serving Manchester and the North West. Comparable terminal-market model for fresh produce, though operating in a different geographic catchment than CGMA.
• Mercamadrid: Madrid's central wholesale food market, one of Europe's largest. Structurally similar to CGMA as a multi-product terminal market serving a dense urban hospitality customer base in Southern Europe.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/marketfood
• Facebookfacebook.com/newcoventgardenmarket
• Instagraminstagram.com/marketfood
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/covent-garden-market-authority

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Covent Garden Market Authority