Covent Garden Tenants Association Chairman Gary Marshall was on BBC Radio London’s Night Life show last night, as the star of host Jacqueline Shepherd’s Night Shift slot, that highlights people and the industries that work through the night and the impact that London's night-time culture has on the city and its population.

Jacqueline introduced Gary by saying: “Tonight, we're joined by a man who says that ‘if you've eaten out in London, then you've eaten fresh fruit and vegetables from our market’.” Gary explained a little about the size and operational side of the market, including the record turnover of £880 million reported in the last financial year.

Having lived in Oval, Jacqueline admitted as so many do that she knew the Market was there, but had no idea of its scale and value to the capital. Gary explained the wholesale market process to her local audience: “Tonight as always we’re getting ready to feed London while everyone else is having a nice sleep. It’s just after 7pm now, so the evening will be starting with fresh produce arriving from all over the world – picked today if it’s from the UK and yesterday or the day before if it’s from the continent. Hundreds of container lorries will arrive and the produce they are carrying will be distributed to the wholesalers within the market. At around 10-1.30pm we’ll start selling our wares, to fresh produce buyers from (for example) the restaurants and hotels, independent retailers, schools and office buildings around London and the South East.

“In around two hours, it will be a hive of activity – pumping, buzzing!”

Gary then talked to Jacqueline through his career in the market, from the 13-year old who left school and followed his dad into the market trade to being the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the FPC Fresh Awards recently. We’ve chronicled that story here in the past, but suffice to say, Gary was his normal entertaining self, reflecting on the changes he’s seen and telling some of the stories and the highlights.

“You can isolate moments, of course, but what stays with you is the community, the passion, the desire, the expertise… there is no other place with the community feel. We have more than 2,000 people on site of different backgrounds and cultures, but we’re one – if you’re in trouble of any kind, you get support and that is the most rewarding thing for me. We’ve raised almost £900,000 for charities in my time as Chairman of the tenants association – these are amazingly generous people, proper people.

“When you look after yourselves and look after each other, you’d be amazed how wonderful that can be,” Gary said. “We’re one of the last bastions of talking to each other face to face and caring about each other.

“If there are any listeners out there who are looking for a different type of career, where every day is different and its great fun, get in contact with us at New Covent Garden, we’re always looking for young people to come and help us to spread the message and make a name for themselves.”

Asked about the evolution of fresh produce in his time, Gary picked out one major change. “The variety we get now – 40 years ago there were seasons, but now 12 months of the year, you can get beautiful raspberries, asparagus and strawberries. No-one knew what an avocado was, or Tenderstem broccoli. Some of the table grapes we see now burst in your mouth with flavour,” he said.

“Because of the nature of our customers and the skill of our wholesalers, we get the cream of the crop in our market, a range that no-one else in this country will have. The quality we receive and we’re able to pass onto our customers is incredible.

“In this country, we just expect to be able to walk into a shop or go to a restaurant and eat top quality produce throughout the year, but there’s a lot of hard work that goes into making that possible. I suppose sometimes we feel a bit like we’re taken for granted, but [who knows] what would happen if we weren’t there.”

Despite the jump in quality over the last few decades, the value in seasonal fresh produce is massively under-rated, Gary added. “I’d encourage everyone to talk to their local greengrocer or deli, butcher or baker and fall back in love with fresh food. We really have to protect what we’ve got and New Covent Garden is an institution full of wonderful people.”

He said that with New Spitalfields in the east and Western International Market in the west, the wholesale market scene in London is in great shape. “We keep trying to inspire people, and make the younger generations excited by food and fall in love with it. People don’t want cheap stacked high, they want quality. If you get that and you can use all of the product, in the long run you get better value – you don’t save money by buying ready meals, packets of crisps and ding dinners. Go to your local greengrocers, buy a cauliflower and make some cauliflower cheese – you’ll be amazed how many people it can feed and how it fills you up. And it’s good for you.”