Old Spitalfields Market will ban its traders selling fur from January 2018.
The historic marketplace made the announcement on its Facebook page last week posting: “Following a review carried out by the Market, we have taken the decision to request stall holders do not offer animal fur for sale from the beginning of next year.”
“The exact wording and details are still being worked out but we thought we’d share this now.”
The statement was met with messages of support from patrons, some of whom said they had been “avoiding” the stalls that sold fur.
Sophie China commented: “That’s great, I was put off taking my kids and family there due to hearing about the fur stalls, I now look forward to visiting next year.”
The market has been trading for over 300 years and is visited by 40,000 people each week.
Humane Society International UK director Claire Bass welcomed the news.
“HSI is delighted that Old Spitalfields Market has made the compassionate decision to request that its stallholders no longer sell animal fur.”
“Real fur is extremely cruel, environmentally-unfriendly and should be confined to the history books.”
Cover image by Bikeboy (Creative Commons).
