This programme describes the history of Covent Garden, from its conception as an open space surrounded by houses that could only be afforded by the wealthy, through the majority of its life as a bustling fruit and vegetable wholesale market, to its rebirth in the 1970s as a street market aimed at tourists, after the fruit/veg market moved out of central London and the area narrowly escaped "comprehensive redevelopment" which would have seen a lot of the buildings demolished.