In This Issue
A very happy Christmas for garden centres
Christmas shopping report: Brits spend £158 on decorations and 40% put up two trees
Garden centre closes after railway landlord declines to renew lease
GTN's Sustainability Directory 2020
Former England cricketers unite for unique ‘Audience with' event at Tong Garden Centre
Toppings sell Barton Grange Hotel to catering firm
Hillmount Santa's Grotto is Belfast's favourite
HTA response to Queen’s Speech and EU Withdrawal Bill
West London houseplant offering opens to critical acclaim
Bents to kick off 2020 with photo competition
Zest 4 Leisure donates fundraising cheque to charity
Trends in gardening – what’s shaping the future?
Glee 2020 will show why the garden retail sector thrives
Design Council boost for inventor's 'easier digging' device
New-era Summerhouse is the smart route to on-trend products at Spring Fair
Calling all Garden Centre Suppliers - Submit your FREE Sustainability Directory Entry here
Get your own copy of GTN Xtra
Wildlife World makes key management appointment
GCA conference to welcome double Olympic gold medallist
Tubtrugs inventor Steve Faulks hangs up his tubs
GB to stage joint exhibits at IPM Essen
Growers must get frictionless trade with EU warns HTA
The best of last week's
The Big Three - GTN interviews Graeme Jenkins, Charles Stubbs and Alan Roper
British Garden Centres finally acquire 8 Hillview centres
Dobbies made £14m loss after buying six centres for £70m
Another record Christmas sales week
It’s an all-time winter high, according to GTN Bestsellers Epos data
Garden Centre Photo Tours
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
All the latest news from the world of garden centre catering
Casual Dining: Food and drink trends for 2020
Top food pro explains how he keeps up with what consumer s want
Send us your news and great ideas

Contact us with your news. 

Email neil.pope@tgcmc.co.uk, or trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or call the GTN News team on 01733 775700


Garden centre closes after railway landlord declines to renew lease
Thriving business had been going for 45 years

Toddington Garden Centre in Gloucestershire closed last Tuesday after the landlords – the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway railway – declined to renew its lease.

 

A final Facebook post by joint owners, husband and wife Mark and Liz Tsakarisianos, announced: “We are now closed after 45 years. We would like to say a very big thank you to our amazing staff and customers and thank you for all the support you have given us.”

 

The site is owned by GWR, who say they need it to add new retail restaurant and parking facilities to their headquarters next door.

 

A spokeswoman for the garden centre, which the owners say is a thriving business, said the closure would lead to the loss of about eight part-time jobs. However, the family’s other business, Gotherington Nurseries, about 6 miles away, will continue to operate.

 

The spokesman added: “There’s a lot of sadness. It was leased [to us] by GWR and they wanted the site back so there wasn’t much we could do about it. We’ve got a thriving business here. We assumed that we would just renew the lease or have a shorter one.

 

 “We’re devastated, absolutely. It’s been a fantastic place to work. We’re really sad and so are the customers.”

 

GWR’s Ian Crowder said: “We are sorry that the garden centre will close. We ended the 10-year lease after a lot of deliberation and a heavy heart as we are aware that the garden centre is something of an attraction for visitors to the railway. “We gave the garden centre plenty of notice and opportunities to talk to us over recent months.

 

“The site is needed for expansion of our facilities at Toddington, which is the railway’s headquarters. It will be used solely to expand and improve the experience for visitors to our railway.

 

“It has been a long-term intention to eventually re-use this space and the lease coming to an end provides that opportunity.”

 

The opening of GWR’s Broadway station last year, which re-linked the village by rail with Cheltenham 14 miles to the south, via Toddington, brought a 44% increase in passenger numbers.

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Del.icio.us Digg | Comment (0)
Comment
Name:*

Email Address:*

Comment:*