SIR HENRY HARDMAN

THE OLD fruit and vegetable market at Covent Garden scarcely changed its barrow - based trading methods be - tween the Middle Ages, when ii was established by Benedic - tine monks, and November 1974, when it finally moved out to a purpose-built , much larger site, at Nine Elms in Battersea. For decades it had been obvious that central London could no longer cope with the trading of a million tons of produce each year — a fifth of the national total — or accom - modate 4.000 vans and lorries

Taking the fruit and veg out of Covent Garden

every day. A report in 1963 pointed out how much this trade was inconveniencing lo - cal people and other busi - nesses , but still there was entrenched opposition to relo - cation , and it was left to Henry Hardman, as chairman of the Covent Garden Market Auth - ority from 1967 to 1975, to persuade the traders of the advantages of temperature controls, electric deliveries and other modern amenities. That the move eventually came about owed a good deal to Hardman's negotiating skills, long experience of agri - cultural administration, and

patent integrity. Henry Hardman was one of a breed of academics who had found themselves translated into government service in Whitehall at the beginning of the Second World War and stayed on as a permanent civil servant. His approach to the many problems of wartime Britain and the postwar world was always practical , and although he was an excellent draftsman, he saw a well - writ - ten White Paper as no more than a means to action . He was born in Manchester in 1905, and after Manches -