The original Covent Garden looking alongside the Opera House from Bow Street circa 1956.
Ditto from the Strand
In the Dirt Market…( Root Vegtables)
Remember it? Nobody who went there could ever forget it! 
My very first employer, Maddicot and Vallence from Newton Abbot used to send me to play in the Dirt Market with Swedes.
David
Thanks Harry, a memory I would prefer to forget. Trying to deliver apples with an artic at 4am and, after going round the block half a dozen times waiting for a suitable space to appear, discovering that my consignee was the only one who didn’t start 'till 8 
. Then because of not getting much sleep before being put on the shake at Leman St. digs, trying to ‘snuggle’ down across the bonnet, constantly disturbed by other drivers I was blocking. .
Finally, when the customer at last appeared and had me throwing boxes off the back faster than I could manage, the ‘chain’ stopped for about 15 minutes only to start up again just as furious for about 10 boxes. The sod was using me as a market stall, selling the stuff straight off the wagon whenever a new buyer appeared. .
As this was a backload from somewhere and I organised my own backloads you can bet I didn’t end up there very often. 
remember going down with the old man years ago,he had the same with spuds from rutland sold of the back as he(we) tipped them then had the cheek to ask if the old man would reload 5ton to go to his mates down the road,no need to tell you the answer he got 
David Miller I remember the porters in the Dirt Market lobbing swedes onto the roofs of passing vans! Can you remember Berts saveloy rolls ? He had that big coffee stall in the entrance to the church opposite the cobbles…
I remember those Tommy Paine Bedford S type rigids loaded sky high with oranges from London docks…They used to sway down King Street & creak with every step they took…Smart old trucks tho’ . Our family were greengrocers & our parking place was King Street. At fourteen I was shunting the V8 Petrol engined Ford we had up & down King street , letting people in & out of the parking places;As well as taking all the empties back & loading the truck… Start in the morning 0300 / finish 2100 once a week on a Thursday… 
Years later I would deliver to the Dirt Market but I never had probs unloading…Just lucky…
a wonderful trip down memory lane thanks a lot
great photos
Harry. I may be (make that am) getting senile but the coffee stall in a Church entrance that I remember was on Commercial Street opposite Spitalfields Market 
So many years, so many coffees!
David
David…I just bashed out a huge post. Pressed a button & its vanished.
Come up King St. Hit the cobbles. Look Right. On the right by the gent toilets is Bobs big cream coffee trailer. That is the entrance to St Paul’s Church. But you can`t see it because all the watercress stall were hiding it. Its a famous Show Biz Church. To get in they used the entrance in King St.
When the scruffy old geezer died that ran the Spits stall by the church they found £65K in old biscuit tins just under the counter…He used to leave that every day & go home to sleep.
coventgardenlife.com/sightse … church.htm
inspiredartfair.com/about/venue.php
Now v.groovy.
( Need a drink…) 
Bobs coffee stall between the pillars. That area was known as the Railings.
Bedford St. Entrance…But there is a small gateway in King st.
David Miller:
Remember it? Nobody who went there could ever forget it!My very first employer, Maddicot and Vallence from Newton Abbot used to send me to play in the Dirt Market with Swedes.
David
how lucky were you David!!!..Was that legal then!!!
Lovely girls, the Swedes…
harry:
David Miller I remember the porters in the Dirt Market lobbing swedes onto the roofs of passing vans! …
What was it with covent garden and the Swedes■■? I can just picture a Bjorn Bjorg or Agnetha (blond girl from ABBA) look-a-like being launched through the air!!
Maybe it was the blond hair that did it!!!
Don`t Mock… 
Harry. Now I remember. That’s what I need - picture clues
bullitt. It was not only legal but positively encouraged. Though it was true that the porters sometimes did not treat the swedes with the respect they deserved.