The City of London Corporation has announced it will launch a food school located at the historic Billingsgate Market, which will give school students a flavour for trades such as butchery.
The City Corporation is developing plans for a food school at the new market site in Dagenham, which it said will train tomorrow's market traders. According to the Corporation, the school will provide students with the skills required to become future butchers, all whilst strengthening the future resilience and prosperity of the wholesale food markets and the competitiveness of the traders.
In collaboration with London council, the project aims to complement the council's plans for the creation of a food hub in Barking Town centre and improve health and economic outcomes in the borough.
An introductory course for students from several primary and secondary schools from Barking and Dagenham was held at the pilot food school in July.
"Teaching our youngsters very early on about opportunities available to them means they are best placed to benefit from this growth."
Darren Rodwell, Barking and Dagenham Council
Chris Hayward, policy chairman at the City of London Corporation, said: "I'm delighted the food school has opened its doors to schools from Barking and Dagenham, providing a glimpse into this exciting vision for a new educational facility in the heart of this east London borough."
Councillor Darren Rodwell, leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, added: "We are committed to seeing real growth and investment coming into our borough, but we know this must have a real impact on our residents. Teaching our youngsters very early on about opportunities available to them means they are best placed to benefit from this growth."
The relocation of Billingsgate Fish Market and Smithfield Meat Market will see the City Corporation invest nearly £1 billion into Barking and Dagenham. The markets are predicted to complete their move to Dagenham Docks between 2027-2028. Read more about the move here.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
