The managing director of a plant wholesaler said his firm has lost more than £2.5million-worth of business in the last three months after garden centres were forced to close as part of the coronavirus lockdown.
Adrian Marskell, who runs The Bransford Webbs Plant Company in Worcester, in the West Midlands, has had to begin throwing away around 100,000 flowering plants which cannot be sold.
Shocking photos show mountains of de-potted plants waiting to be composted, with others sitting in colourful rows, all destined to be thrown away.
The firm would ordinarily have sold £1million-worth of plants each month in March, April and May but has instead made sales of just £250,000 in total.
Adrian Marskell (pictured), who runs The Bransford Webbs Plant Company in Worcester, in the West Midlands, has begun throwing away around 100,000 plants which cannot be sold because of the coronavirus lockdown. Pictured: Some of the plants which will be discarded
The plants being thrown away would have been sold to around 350 garden centres around the country, all of which have been shut since March as part of lockdown measures.
The only source of income for Mr Marskell’s firm has been from garden centres which have continued doing home deliveries.
Mr Marskell branded the move to close garden centres ‘unjust’ because supermarkets and DIY stores have been able to continue selling plants to customers.
‘We have probably got around about 100,000 to be earmarked to be thrown,’ he said.
‘We should be selling in March, April and May about £1million a month and in the last seven weeks we have sold £250,000 worth. It is absolutely disastrous.’
The boss added that the fortunes of his firm are at least partly hinged on whether or not Prime Minister Boris Johnson allows garden centres to re-open when he outlines a potential easing of the lockdown on Sunday.
Shocking photos show mountains of de-potted plants waiting to be composted
The firm would ordinarily have sold £1million-worth of plants each month in March, April and May but has instead made sales of just £250,000 in total
‘It really depends on what Boris says on Sunday really. As to whether garden centres can start selling some stock.’
However, he said that no firm like his will be able to survive without some form of financial help from the Government.
‘It is survivable. We will have to take advantage of the Government’s loan scheme. I don’t think any nursery could survive without some form of financial help.
‘We have about 350 customers and deliver to 500 sites. Some of them are doing home deliveries, that’s where the £250,000 has come from.’
The plants being thrown away would have been sold to around 350 garden centres around the country, all of which have been shut since March as part of lockdown measures
The only source of income for Mr Marskell’s firm has been from garden centres which have continued doing home deliveries
He added that he cannot understand why garden centres cannot remain open with similar social distancing measures seen at supermarkets and DIY stores.
‘I can’t understand why a supermarket or a DIY store can sell plants and stay open, whereas a garden centre can’t operate,’ he said.
‘It seems totally unjust. Either it’s everyone or it’s no one. We want garden centres to re-open with restricted opening.’
The Worcester-based company is just one of thousands of plant-focused businesses which have been drastically affected by the lockdown.
The horticulture industry in the UK generates around £1.5billion of turnover and employs more than 30,000 people, according to trade body the Horticultural Trades Association.
In March, the HTA warned that season plants worth £200million would have to be destroyed because of the lockdown.
Mr Marskell branded the move to close garden centres ‘unjust’ because supermarkets and DIY stores have been able to continue selling plants to customers
The boss added that the fortunes of his firm are at least partly hinged on whether or not Prime Minister Boris Johnson allows garden centres to re-open when he outlines a potential easing of the lockdown on Sunday
Hundreds of nurseries and growers – many of them family businesses – face ruin as the market for seasonal plants is shut down at the busiest time of year when people normally flock to outlets to restock their gardens.
The HTA called for Government support of the ornamental crop sector, which grows bulbs, bedding plants, cut flowers and pot plants for garden centres, supermarkets, florists and DIY stores.
The call was backed by TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh, who warned of ‘irreparable damage’ to gardens and open spaces if the sector is not supported.
The HTA said around 650 businesses across the UK produce ornamental crops.
Sales have dwindled since the Mother’s Day weekend, when demand would be normally high but people were already beginning to self-isolate, the trade body said.
The value of lost plant sales in the UK will be £687 million by the end of June, the HTA added.
‘It is survivable. We will have to take advantage of the Government’s loan scheme. I don’t think any nursery could survive without some form of financial help,’ Mr Marskell said