In Worcestershire, the compact fresh@burcot garden centre was able to open on Easter Sunday. Owner Neil Gow said: “We did some trade. The temperature got just above zero briefly. A vicar came in and bought some flowers as he was going to friends for lunch. We took more on catering than we did on Easter Sunday last year. We were not expecting any visits from the council, nor did we get any.”
Gow challenged the view expressed by some retailers that the public now understand Sunday trading. “That’s rubbish,” he said. “The vicar came to us because the centre he usually went to was closed and he didn’t know why. Others did not understand either and many were happy to sign the GCA petition here.”
Gow said the local Morrison’s was trading on Easter Sunday from its forecourt supermarket. “People were buying their flowers and plants along with their sherry and everything else.”