Arthur H. Beavan only had room for a couple of paragraphs about Leadenhall Market when he published Imperial London in 1901:

Leadenhall, in the heart of the City, is a present-day favourite with the retail buyer, who appreciates it even as an interesting lounge, so miscellaneous is the show of dead and living creatures.

Apart from its poultry and game – at Christmas, a wonderful sight – its excellent butchers’, fishmongers’, and fruiterers’ shops, there are to be found huddled together in some of the quaint, narrow passages which survive the improvements, all kinds of pets – dogs, cats, hedgehogs, canaries, pigeons, hawks, owls, parrots, and even foxes, besides live poultry, ducks, etc., and ornamental wild-fowl; with, occasionally, gulls, spoonbills, herons, etc – a delightful place for children, and many of a larger growth, who, when on business bent, can seldom resist the temptation of passing through the crowded market on the flimsy pretext that it is a ‘short cut’ to their destination.