Paul and Danny Murphy are one of New Covent Garden Market’s best-known father and son partnerships. Both have enjoyed long careers here and for the last decade, they have been encouraging everyone to ‘peel the love’ at the helm of catering supplier Yes Chef. While the pair were being filmed for the latest in NCGM’s 50 years in Nine Elms youtube series, we caught up with the duo to talk about the past, present and future

Danny was the third generation of his clan to work with or in the original Covent Garden; both his father and grandfather hitched up their horse and cart each day to travel to WC2 from Caledonian Road, in North London.

Unusually perhaps, that connection was not why Danny himself entered the trade. “My first job was when I was 11, putting the stalls out in Exmouth Market at 6am and breaking them down again at 6pm,” he says. So, markets were always in his blood, he adds. “Although my dad and grandad had done a lot of work there, I first got introduced into Covent Graden through my boxing club. We went there to buy some fruit and when I walked around the corner from Drury Lane, the sweet smell of the fruit was intoxicating. The buzz, the barrows, the powerful porters, it just seemed so exciting to me.”

From that day on, there was only one career path of choice for young Danny. “I eventually started in Covent Garden when I was 17; a bit later than I would have liked. In those days you had to wait for someone to die or retire to get in, because of the way things were handed down through the generations. So, I’d done a few other things before my ticket came up.

“As a porter, you started as an empties boy, a flower porter or a banana cutter and I was the latter for about 15 months, working under the catacombs, just off Langley Street. There were six or seven underground ripening rooms and a chute that came down from the street – some of the spiders that came with those bananas were unbelievable!

“Then a porter’s badge came up and I was very proud when I started at A Phillips as a fully-fledged porter,” he remembers. “From there I went to Baker & Kemp. If you were out of work for whatever reason, you waited ‘on the cobbles’ for someone who didn’t turn in for a day for a day’s work. If nothing came up by 6 or 7am then you’d go home with no work and no money. That’s how it was. I worked in the Jubilee Market for a potato firm, then when we moved to New Covent Garden, I worked for Coxhill’s, another firm that was originally on Russell Street.”

Fifty years since the move to New Covent Garden Market and Danny is still in the Market regular as clockwork. “I’ve never stopped working. “I’ve worked in a kitchen – under Brian Webb – and I had the first Café Rouge restaurant in England. It taught me so much about what chefs require and working with chefs now is such a pleasure for me. And then I came back into the market to be a catering supplier with Chef’s Connection, then Yes Chef. I’ve done it all!” he laughs.

Go south, young man

He remembers driving across the bridge to the new market in South London “as though it was yesterday”. Paul says his dad has often told him he was in tears making the journey in November 1974 and Danny does not correct him. “It was only two and a half miles away but it was another world to us. As porters, we weren’t used to walls, there were so many wide open spaces at the old market, so it was a culture shock coming into a new market. I’d actually never been south of the river and thought I was going to prison! Thankfully though, the camaraderie of the porters soon brought some life into it and we turned it into a great market. We missed the variety of people we used to see in the old market, but we made it work for us.”

Fourth generation Paul became a fully qualified ski instructor after he left school, so had worked in the Alps, USA and Canada for a few years before joining his dad in the Market, in 1990. “I would never have asked Paul to come into the Market as I know how hard it is. It has to be your life and you have to love it,” Danny says. “But he came to help me one day when I needed him and he never left. It’s great working with him, but I don’t know how he puts up with me!”

Paul has a slightly different version of this story. “Dad lent me a van to drive around in one autumn, as I didn’t have a car. Then two days later, he called me and said ‘Son, I’m a driver down and a van down, can you bring it back in. I brought it back in… and I’m still here.

“First I was a van driver, tea boy and sweeper-upper – all of which I’m still doing!” says Paul, “as well as having jobs as a packer and in the warehouse. I’m now more focused on buying produce when my buyers are off, and doing the types of things my dad also does now – getting out there to see the customers, the growers and the farmers.”

Family challenges

Despite the many upsides, working with family has its challenges, says Paul, whose two sons have both spent time in the Market. “Working with dad has been interesting at times. He’s always been a hard taskmaster – nothing is ever good enough,” he explains. “But I do believe the reason we are as successful as we are now is the ethos he has instilled in me – you have to give 100% every day and make sure your customers get the benefits of that. I think our customers return to us because of the consistency of the quality, service and customer care we provide every day. Me, my dad and Martin are always on the end of a mobile phone, which I think stands us out from a lot of other suppliers.

“He gave me the tools to part run Yes Chef.”

Danny adds: “I’ve worked with my wife, my son, my grandson and sooner or later you will upset them, so it is difficult. But we’ve always wanted to be the best at everything we do and it’s demanding. To upset my son at times hurt me too, but it is also lovely to see him every day of my life – well apart from Sunday, unless Arsenal are at home!”

Opening time

Even one day off a week was never on the table when Yes Chef first opened though. “When we started, we were all here seven days a week, Martin with his dad and his son too, and often 16 hours a day. We would not leave until everything was done and that went on for many months. It’s fantastic to see now that our commitment then has paid off. I still love every day – I have never woken up not wanting to go to work,” Danny says.

Paul, Danny and Martin Wheeler are the directors of Yes Chef. In 2025, the hours are not quite as daunting as they were at the outset, but as with many firms at NCGM, it continues to be a very hands-on business. Paul says: My hours chop and change according to the needs of the company. I can be in at 9pm, but my normal hours these days give me a ‘lie-in’ and I can start at 4am! I will cover our buyers when they are away, I will also cover the driving, the warehouse, the forklift driving and anything that needs doing.”

Danny’s days are a bit easier now too. “I’ll come in a bit later in the day, see whether I’m happy with everything, if not I’ll annoy a few people, then go out delivering and see the chefs,” he says.

“I believe we’re lucky to be in this industry; it gives me so much satisfaction when we do a great job. When you have a passion for something, you get annoyed and frustrated when things aren’t right.”

Murphys’ law

“Our company motto is ‘Peel the love’ and we chose that because we wanted to create an environment within Yes Chef of respect between everybody – the team, the owners, the customers and the suppliers. All of our staff have this explained to them when they join us – if anyone doesn’t peel the love they won’t last here very long!” smiles Paul.

Danny laughs: “I don’t know how I’ve lasted so long! My role here is to come in and upset everyone. If there’s something I’m not happy with, Paul and Martin will hear about it, then everyone else. But seriously, I do it in the best way I can – we are always appreciative of the people who work for us. We’re a brigade - like in a chef’s kitchen - and we all have to work together. If we don’t it won’t work and we know the people who work for us are our agents when they go out to the hotels and restaurants. We’ve had some really great drivers here and I think it’s the philosophy and values of the firm that breed that.”

The meticulous approach to the fruit and vegetable business has netted many a premium customer. “We’ve met and served some wonderful chefs out of this Market, haven’t we son?” Danny asks Paul, who nods: “I had my schooling off Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Gary Rhodes and Angela Hartnett. If you could supply them, you could supply anybody!”

Danny adds: “Marco was the one – his firm was unbelievable and Gordon was his number two back then. We served Pierre Koffmann and he was another one that many of the top chefs worked under. He was a tough one, but he had three Michelin stars so he could be.

“Fantastic people, old school, taught properly. Our first customer was Paul Gaylor – what a great chef he is. His knowledge of ingredients and spices is second to none. Giorgio Locatelli and the other top Italians that we served too – they were all amazing chefs too, but if I wasn’t driving I’d have come home drunk every day from their restaurants!”

Paul says: “One area, where the industry has completely changed is that a lot of the younger chefs now don’t drink. The entertaining side of it hasn’t completely disappeared, but it’s not as big as it used to be.”

Forever connected

“There’s a plaque in Southampton Street in the old Covent Garden with our [previous] company’s name and our family name on it,” says Paul. “They wanted to recognise companies and people that were in both the old and new Covent Gardens and we’re immensely proud that our name is going to be there for posterity, forever connected with the old Market.”

Danny adds: “The old market is my real love – I took Paul there at a very young age and when I had loaded up a barrow, I’d put Paul on top of it while I pulled it to the lorries. Health and safety didn’t exist then! I loved having him with me and the porters all made a fuss of him. He’d somehow always come home with more money than I’d earned that day!”

“Dad must have loved this place, because he used to bring me and my sister down here every weekend, even when he wasn’t working,” Paul laughs. “We sort of grew up here as kids.”

“They were the best times of my life really,” Danny admits. “It’s hard to explain how fantastic it was or how much of a pleasure it was to come to work. Snow rain and all weathers, we went out and delivered - and those cobbles were a bit slippy when it rained and snowed, I can tell you! You had to get the job done, we couldn’t put an umbrella up or shelter inside.

“I still get the same feeling when I come back here now – they’ve done a remarkable job keeping the façade and where there are new builds, incorporating the same style into the new buildings. To come back and remember where I used to work is fantastic – I bored Paul for many years and now I bore my grandchildren to death with the stories. I never tire of it!”

Paul concurs: “I love going back to the old Covent Garden Market, it still feels like I’m going back to somewhere special. It’s the same for my two sons; they know the family history.”

And they both agree, that was the old Covent Garden, both a workplace and a place with infinite opportunities to have fun. “We had so many happy days there – every one of them was a laugh,” Danny says. “We used to see such a wide variety of people because we were bang in central London. The only people you see at New Covent Garden really are the people who work here or come to buy here.

“We’ve both made great friends in the Market though. It’s been an amazing life and a healthy one too,” says Danny. “Mind you, it’s nowhere near as physical as it used to be; I’d deliver three tonnes of potatoes every morning to Ronnie Wilcox’s near Charing Cross Hospital, load and unload all that weight and then pull it all down there. You’d get £2 for that – the porterage was where you made your money.”

He may never have worked there, but Paul’s emotional connection to the old site is strong. “I have really good memories of Covent Garden Market from a very early age. Dad would wake me up at 4 or 5 in the morning, mum would wrap me up in warm clothes and we’d go down to the old market. I used to have so much fun there. I can remember when the Market moved in 1974 too and the vibrancy of this Market when it was brand new. It just always seemed like there were thousands and thousands of people here, which was really exciting for a small boy. Don’t tell the authorities, but I even remember my dad letting me drive an electric forklift – this Market was decades in front of Tesla, it used to be full of electric vehicles!”

Professional edge

Paul adds: “There’s more emphasis on getting the job done and going home these days, which is fair enough. The new Market has changed a huge amount in the 30 years I’ve been there and it’s going to change a lot more.

“The Nine Elms, Vauxhall and Battersea skyline is so different. It’s like a mini Manhattan. And when I look at the rebuild, I’m excited for the future of this Market. We’re really looking forward to the completion of phases four, five and six [of the redevelopment programme]. I think the Market community will come together again and with all the building that has happened around the area, I’ve got a feeling it will have the same sort of vibe as the old Covent Garden Market. I’m sure it will be a really good place to work and attract the younger generation.

“You have to commit to this job, but if you work hard, you reap the rewards,” Paul concludes. “The great thing about the Market is that pretty much every firm here is owned by someone who was one of the workers in the old or new Covent Gardens. They started off like us, so they understand. If you take your opportunities, there is so much you can achieve here.”

Market romance

Danny met his wife, Paul’s mum Bettie, aged 17, while he was waiting to get his porter’s badge. “I got a job for about a year driving a lorry, delivering potatoes for Baldwin’s,” he remembers. “When I finished work, sometimes I’d pop up to the office as I knew a few of them.

“One day, I was doing a turn down Endell Street and saw a young woman talking to Bob, the foreman. She smiled, but we didn’t speak and she went back up to the office. But she’d made an impression on me and eventually I impressed her enough to go out with me by telling her I had two tickets for the premiere of Two for the Road, a top film with Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn.

“Of course, I didn’t have the tickets, but luckily I knew a tout who did!

“Bettie and me were sat right behind the Duke and Duchess of Kent and the rest is history.”

The film you can watch on youtube was produced by local company Chocolate Films, which is based in the Embassy Quarter, on the other side of the Market’s rail arches. Type 50 years in Nine Elms into your search bar in youtube or click on this link