About Us
Keevil & Keevil as it is today is the result of 4 companies joining together over 100 years ago. The oldest part of the business dates to 1794.
Keevil & Best was founded by Job Keevil in 1850, Peter Keevil & Sons was opened by his brother Peter in 1852, and their younger brother Clement formed Keevil & Weston in 1872 – although the business that he bought had been opened in the old Newgate Market in 1794.
The companies were merged in 1908 to become Keevil and Keevil.
In 1946 Keevils became part of Fitch Lovell, a large Smithfield supply group, although the company remained controlled by the Keevil family until 1970.
In 1991 Keevils was bought by George Abrahams, a Smithfield trader who incorporated it into his group which specialises in importing from across the world. He has since developed the 'Specialist' part of the business, which means we focus on more unusual, gourmet cuts of meat, while also selling everyday items – always of the highest quality.
Because we can buy direct from market every day, it means we can get the best meat available on to your plate.
Smithfield Market
Deriving from the Saxon word ‘Smeth Field’, which meant ‘Smooth Field’, Smithfield was a flat grassy area just outside the city walls of London.
It was used for burials in Roman times, but had changed to agricultural use by the time of the Norman invasion, and became well known in mediaeval England for horse trading.
Smithfield was also notoriously used for public executions until the 18th Century. Scottish rebel William Wallace was put to death here in 1305, as was Wat Tyler during the Peasants Revolt in 1381.
1123 Henry I granted permission for a priory to be built at Smithfield. The resulting St Bartholomew-the-Great is the oldest parish church in London.
1150 Horses, cattle, pigs and pheasant are first recorded as being traded at Smithfield.
1381 The Corporation of London banned animal slaughter within the City walls, this saw the development of the livestock trade at Smithfield.
2nd September 1666 Buildings in the Smithfield area survived the Great Fire of London, due to their closeness to the City wall, and a change in the direction of the wind. The fire stopped at Pye Corner, just 200 metres from the current market.
1757 The New Road was built to ease congestion – previously Oxford Street and Piccadilly had been the only two roads into London from the West that cattle were driven along. The New Road today makes up Marylebone Road, Euston Road, Pentonville Road, and City Road. Other tracks that were used as droveways to take stock to and from Smithfield formed a framework for today’s roads.
1844 Annual meat sales at Smithfield total £8 million.
1852 The Smithfield Removal Act was passed by Parliament, as the location of the open-air market had become a public nuisance.
June, 1855 The Metropolitan Cattle Market was established at Copenhagen Fields, Islington, and was opened by the Prince Consort. However this soon became unsuitable as it wasn’t central or large enough.
24th November, 1868 The new Central Meat Market was opened at Smithfield, designed by Horace Jones, who also designed Tower Bridge. It was a huge construction of stone, slate, cast iron and glass, covered an area of 8 acres, and cost £993,816. It included an underground area which was linked to the railway lines, so that animals could be transported via train.
30th November, 1875 The Poultry Market was opened, in the same style as the Central Meat Market. This is the only one of the original buildings which is still in use today.
11th May 1941 A Keevils employee named Mears had been taking his turn firewatching, and was killed in the last major night raid of WWII on London.
8th March 1945 A V2 rocket struck Smithfield at 11.30am causing 110 deaths. This was only 2 weeks before the end of the V2 strikes.
22nd January 1958 The whole of the poultry and General markets were destroyed by a fire which burned for 4 days and spread through 2.5 acres of underground tunnels and storerooms. It was fought by 1000 firefighters from 58 London fire stations. Keevils were lucky and had warehouses nearby and the use of other market premises, so were able to continue trading. Other less fortunate traders had who had lost their shops were forced to move to a temporary adjoining market named ‘The Village’, where they would sometimes have to share stalls with competitors.
5th July 1963 The new rebuilt building was opened. It was designed by Sir Thomas Bennett at a cost of £2 million, and incorporated a clear spanning dome roof. At 225 feet in size, it was until recently Europe’s largest unsupported domed roof, and because of it the building is Grade II listed.
2007 Annual meat sales at Smithfield total £750 million.
August 2008 The City of London Corporation planned to replace the General Market with a 7 storey office block, but Communities Secretary Hazel Blears announced that planning permission for the development had been refused, stating that the threatened buildings made "a significant contribution" to the character and appearance of the area.
With thanks to Andrew Walker for additional historical information