The Metropolitan Cattle Market, just off the Caledonian Road in the parish of Islington was built by the City of London Corporation and was opened in June 1855 by Prince Albert. The market was supplementary to the meat market at Smithfield and was established to remove the difficulty of managing live cattle at that latter site.

Caledonian Road passes for about a mile and a half north–south through the London Borough of Islington. It connects North London, from Camden Road near its junction with Holloway Road, and central London's Pentonville Road in the south. It is known colloquially as the "Cally" and forms the entirety of the A5203.