Neighbours have launched a petition to save the popular Fulham garden centre’s lease being sold to Pets at Home by The Prince’s Trust.

The petition has been set up to save Fulham Palace Garden Centre after it emerged it could be turned into a pet superstore after its lease is sold off by Prince Charles’s charity.

Shopkeepers, users and neighbours of the centre next to the famous home of the Bishop’s of London are furious over supposed plans to turn the popular garden centre into a Pets at Home.

The 4,157 sq ft centre, which is in a conservation area, is used by people from all around London, including top model David Gandy who is often spotted there.

Neighbours are worried much of the centre will be turned into a car park and are concerned over the lack of transparency from the charity.

Sarah Jane Johnson, of Epirus Road, Fulham, uses the centre and used to have a space in the allotment opposite. “I just don’t think a pet superstore is suitable for that space. It’s a lovely centre and there aren’t many around. There are loads of pet stores, we don’t need another.

“Nobody seems to know about it and it seems they’re trying to push through the lease while everyone’s on holiday.”

Rod Harris has run Hurlingham Pet Shop in nearby New King’s Road since 1972. He said: “All the small pet shops in Fulham should be concerned. We have great customer service which the big boys don’t have but people will go to it for convenience.

“I’ve had residents coming into the shop who don’t have pets saying we need to fight Pets at Home coming.”

Another issue people are concerned about is The Prince’s Trust CFO, Amy Stirling, is also an independent non-executive director of Pets at Home. The charity maintains she has no influence over decisions made and the process is being independently managed in line with charity law.

Mr Harris added he thought Ms Stirling’s connection with Pets at Home was ‘very convenient’.

Ryan Gottsche owns Bishops Bark, a grooming and dog day care shop almost opposite the garden centre. He said: “Local residents coming in are really unhappy with the plan and we thought it would be really hard for us but we’ve accepted the fact Pets at Home is coming and hope our personal customer service will work for us. People come from far away for our services so we hope they’ll stay loyal.”

The Prince’s Trust bought the garden centre lease for more than £500,000 from Hammersmith and Fulham Council last year after taking over from the Fairbridge Trust in 2011 but announced in March this year they were selling the lease to focus on supporting disadvantaged young people into jobs. At the end of July they opened the lease up to any retailer, not just a garden centre, and this was when Pets at Home came into the picture.

A spokeswoman from the Trust, said: “We are currently looking at selling the lease of the garden centre in order to raise funds to invest in support of more young people.

“We are continuing to look at all options for the future of the site, which is likely to be taken on by another tenant. We will continue to provide as much information as possible to residents as plans develop.”

The Prince's Trust, which put the garden centre up for sale earlier this year, has announced on the store's website: "Fulham Palace Garden Centre will close on Sunday 31st August.

"We are currently in negotiations regarding the future of the site, which is likely to be taken on by another tenant.

"As a charity, The Prince’s Trust is required to focus on its core activity of supporting disadvantaged young people into jobs and training. With this in mind, we are looking at leasing the site to raise funds in support of more young people, in line with charity law guidelines.

"We would like to thank all of our customers for their support of the garden centre.

"This website will be updated with more information when it is available."

Scotts have taken steps to address retailers’ concerns over the continuity of supply of key Solus products since last month’s takeover.

In a letter to customers, Scotts general manager Martin Breddy said the closure of four Solus warehouses by the administrators had caused difficulties and “may affect lead times” in the short term. He advised retailers to contact the Scotts Solus Brands Sales Office (0121 504 2851) to discuss specific arrangements to meet their needs.

Breddy said the full Solus range of categories and brands for this autumn and the 2015 season would be available. The Scotts and Solus sourcing units in Asia were working together to ensure ample stocks and could eventually merge, he added.

Product range pricing will be confirmed at Glee, where Scotts will have a Scotts Solus Brands exhibit as well as their usual Scotts Miracle-Gro stand.

Following reports of confusion in the trade over split ordering and payment processes, Breddy said the Scotts and Solus teams were “beginning to work together” and would do their utmost to direrct queries swiftly to the right department.

He reminded customers that payments due before and under administration should continue to be paid to the old Solus Lloyds Bank account, accompanied by a remittance advice.

Payments for purchases since 14th July should be made to the Scotts Solus Brands account at Nat West, also accompanied by a remittance advice.

All payments queries are being handled by the credit control team at Hunnington (0121 504 2700).

Smart Garden Products Limited, formerly Smart Solar Limited, will be launched at Glee with over 350 new products. The ‘Smart Solar’ brand has been refreshed and is being retained for solar products. A new brand, ‘Smart Garden’, is also being launched to reflect the company’s diversification into several new categories of garden products.

With new packaging, point of sale and merchandising across the entire range, garden centre buyers can have confidence in the innovation, quality and price points of the new ranges.

Designed to offer garden centres a broad product choice backed by outstanding service from an established provider, these 350 new products are merely the leading edge of an ambitious product development programme that will continue to unfold in the coming months.  

In order to design, develop and introduce this product range and to ensure that customers continue to receive the same high levels of customer service as sales increase, the Smart team has more than doubled in size to over 50 staff who have now moved into a brand new 15,000 sq ft office and showroom facility in Abingdon.

The Smart Garden Products team in their new Abingdon office.

Hawley Garden Centre at Dartford are to star in an episode of ‘Million Dollar Intern’ a new BBC Worldwide TV show.

The centre was one of a handful of UK businesses picked to take part in the series, which sees an ambitious whizz kid entrepreneur go undercover for a week in an effort to re-energise a business.

Rich Martell (24), a successful Internet and web entrepreneur with a string of businesses to his name, went undercover at Hawley, working as an intern.

The only person who knew Martell’s true identity was centre owner Jan East (pictured right with Rich). “It was very difficult keeping Rich's identity from everyone at the centre - we're a very close group,” she said.  “It’s nerve-wracking waiting to see how we have all been portrayed.”

At the end of the week, Rich the ‘intern’  shared his thoughts with the team in an effort to update their working practises. He suggested Hawley did the following:

• Hold more events throughout  the year.
• Promote the business more on both Facebook and Twitter.
• Hold their gardening talks in the garden centre itself,  rather than go out in individual clubs and societies.

Jan East said they had taken on board some of the suggestions, such as building a social media presence and had already held a number of events, including Mothers Day and Father’s Day present making, an Easter Bonnet Parade, a Managers Talk on gardening and a Fun Dog Show. “W’ere planning a Vintage Car Show, a Fashion Show, ‘Dartford on Ice’  (the return of our ice rink) and skating with Santa as well as our popular Santa’s Grotto and Breakfast with Santa.”

Million Dollar Intern was made by Outline Productions for BBC Worldwide and has been shown around the world. It will be screened on the Watch Channel (109 on Sky) on 28 August at 8pm.

Jan East said: "We've had a wonderful response on Twitter where the show has been seen. We're looking forward to hearing honest feedback from our customers in the Dartford and Gravesham area!"

Hawley Garden Centre were 2013 overall winners of the Dartford & Gravesham Business Awards. Jan East was a runner up in the Kent Women In Business Awards 2014 for 'Kent Business Woman of the Year'.

In an £1.8 million project Pennells Garden Centres are taking the next step to become the destination garden centre in Lincolnshire by extending their centre at Lincoln.

From its humble start back in 1971 when the centre covered as little as 125sqm it will bloom to be a multi department garden centre.

Once completed the extended centre will include a food hall featuring an award winning butcher, a wider range of gifts and a covered outside plant sales area so customers can shop whatever the weather is doing!

The centre will also be extending its popular restaurant making it one of the largest restaurants in a garden centre in the country. The restaurant extension will have multiple uses as it will be used for talks and demonstrations throughout the year.

The number of free parking spaces will be increased by approximately 100 plus additional disability parking bays.

The main contractor for the extension is Maher Millard and the architect is Evolution Design.

Chairman  Richard Pennell said, ‘The development of the centre is very exciting for us and will provide an improved shopping experience for our customers with a wider range of products. However the heart of the business will continue to be our love of plants, gardens and gardeners!”

"We've had to move our planteria around to the front car park to allow for the works to progress without any disruption to all of our retailing space and restaurant.  Christmas will be in the old "new shop" again this year and then we'll be looking forward to using the expanded retail space in 2015."

Garland/Worth Gardening has achieved a significant 47.5% increase in turnover for the first seven months of the year and forecast sales growth of 55% for the full year. 

The positive news going into Garland’s 50th anniversary year was announced at the Garland/Worth Gardening sales conference held at the Holiday Inn, Bromsgrove.

It was also an outstanding year for Joe Lydon, the company’s agent in Scotland. He was awarded the Garland ‘sales agent of the year’ for achieving an increase in turnover in excess of 35% and for opening the largest number of new accounts during the year. 

The ‘sales agent of the year’ runner-up was Julie Mclean, who covers several counties in middle England, and third was Fletchers that represents Garland in counties across the Midlands. At the start of the two-day conference, Stuart and Miles Glendenning were presented with a cake to celebrate the company’s anniversary.

Commenting on the buoyant situation of the company, operations director Tony Dedman said: “The company is experiencing a high level of orders being placed for the autumn and Christmas period and this, coupled with the major product launch in September 2014 at the Glee and spoga+gafa garden trade shows,  augurs well for the future of Garland/Worth Gardening. 

"We have already announced that 50 new products will be added to our garden, leisure and hardware product portfolio at these major shows, and these will be supported by the introduction of new clip strip promotions, promotion bins and pallet deals.”

The Garland Products Group is still family owned. Specialising in the manufacture of plastic injection moulded products, it is now one of the fastest growing suppliers to the garden industry and has commissioned the building of a new distribution warehouse to cope with future growth. The products available to both keen and hobby gardeners have been designed through the company’s own experience as keen gardeners.

Pictured above: Stuart and Miles Glendenning with the 50^th anniversary cake.

Joe Lydon receives the ‘agent of the year’ award from Tony Dedman.

The Malvern Cup for the best Trade Stand in the Horticulture, Forestry and Farming section at the New Forest show was presented to the Stewarts landscaping team.

Every year Stewarts create a display at the show, and Rebecca Moy, Landscape Manager at Stewarts, was delighted that their hard work was rewarded.

“We love coming to the New Forest Show and it gives our landscaping team a challenging opportunity to create a display to be truly proud of,” said Rebecca.

The silver cup was presented to members of the Stewarts team, which included Rebecca, Scott Kelly and Susie Stewart.

The judge was impressed with the attention to detail and the amount of hard work that had gone into the garden by the Stewarts team.

Each year the garden takes a different twist, with a new design by the Stewarts Landscaping Team. This year featured a Hampshire country cottage as well as a flowering annual meadow and garden.

Pictured: Susie Stewart, Scott Kelly and Rebecca Moy from the Stewarts landscaping team with the Malvern Cup for the best trade stand at the New Forest Show.

There were some very special offers, priced at £18.64 and £150.

Manager Mark Yates said: "We really did have lots of fun.  We pride ourselves on our plants and friendly service often sidelined today by the large multiple garden centres."

“Over several generations of growing we have learnt a thing or two about plants and so we can solve most gardening problems quickly and simply, whether you are a Kershaw’s customer or not."

“We are proud supporters of local events: we sponsor schools for Yorkshire in Bloom and are the main sponsor of the world famous marching band contest held every July in the town centre.”

Stars such as Ant and Dec, Homer Simpson, Harry from One Direction and Bill Oddie were lined up for the birthday party, however they didn't return the calls so life-size cardboard cut outs were installed for visitors to pose with for photos.  The donkeys were real from Blackpool beach.

And the garden centre’s mascot Oggie the dinosaur was given a special makeover by Danielle Whitaker, a fine art student at Leeds College of Art.

My client is a small garden centre group based in the London area. 

They are looking for an experienced garden centre manager to lead the team of a large destination style garden centre based in a scenic and historic part of London.

You will have site management experience previously and be ready to take on a challenging role in a very competitive environment.

There is an opportunity to grow with the business. 

Please call Brad Peck on 01780 480530, or apply with your CV quoting reference #6156 to info@morepeople.co.uk

Norfolk Leisure is a successful garden & leisure supplier highly focused on our brand development.

We are seeking an additional sales executive to maximise our team’s coverage of the UK market.

This is an outstanding opportunity for a Sales Executive to sell the company’s full range of garden furniture and leisure products to targeted independent garden centres, buying and marketing groups and leisure product retailers.

The successful candidate will work on his or her initiative as part of a growing friendly team whose objective is rapid but profitable growth. Reporting to a Sales Manager. Good sales experience combined with first class communication and organisational skills are essential.

The preferred area to be covered would be the Northern Territory but this is flexible for the right candidate.

An above average salary, bonus and car is available to the right candidate who can demonstrate the required skills and experience.

For a full Job Profile, please contact Debbie Waudby, Director at Norfolk Leisure Lifestyle Limited

Apply in writing with a full CV to Debbie Waudby,
Norfolk Leisure Lifestyle Limited, Garage Lane,
Setchey, Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE33 0BE

Tel: 01553 811717 Fax: 01553 811818
Email: debbie@norfolkleisure.co.uk

Our client is an award winning mailorder / e-commerce business who have a high and longstanding reputation of providing the amateur gardener with outstanding varieties of fruit and vegetables. They are currently seeking a top buyer who can buy, range plan and category manage. Someone who is retail commercial aware and can build on their current success and continue to stimulate growth in the 'Grow your own' sector. 

The ideal candidate will have considerable experience within the e-commerce and or retail buying. Have experience within the live plants and horticultural sector and preferable at chain or supermarket level. Must be a superb team leader who can lead from the front.

Please call Dianne Saunders on 07929 013910 or apply with your CV quoting reference 6536 to info@morepeople.co.uk

My client is a large independent garden centre with an award winning pedigree.

This vacancy will be working along side the centre management team and will have direct responsibility for the product range of this department. I am looking for an ambitious individual who wants to have a sense of ownership over the retail area.  Retail experience is a must and garden centre retail experience is preferred.

Applicants must have experience of staff management, with a minimum of 1-2 years experience, and be able to lead and inspire a team of up to 13 staff.

They must also have proven buying experience and an ability to successfully negotiate with suppliers.

They must operate with good standards of merchandising and presentation, coupled with an element of creativity.  

Our client is an award winning mailorder / e-commerce business who have a high and longstanding reputation of providing the amateur gardener with outstanding varieties of fruit and vegetables.

They are currently seeking a Junior Buyer to form part of their buying team. Ideally someone from a good horticultural background who is keen and driven and can work within this fast paced business that buys seeds, onion sets, live-plants and garden sundries for a catalogue driven market. 

The ideal candidate will have 2-3 years post college experience within a retail or commercial horticultural business. Experience of buying is desirable but not essential. Good IT and communication skills.

Please call Dianne Saunders on 07929 013910 or apply with your CV quoting reference 6537 to info@morepeople.co.uk

"It’s about time we stood up for ourselves and stopped apologising here at Lily’s Kitchen," Henrietta told Pet Trade Xtra.

Kirsty Allsopp's tweeting helped to boost insterest in the story, which has become the most read item ever with more than 1,500 clicks.

Tuesday 23rd September marks the return of the multi-award-winning lunch! show to the Business Design Centre in Islington, London.  With its focus on new innovations from across the food-to-go sector, this popular two-day event has gained a loyal following among buyers and decision makers responsible for garden centre catering.

With nearly six thousand attendees last year from across the retailing, hospitality, snacking and catering sectors, lunch! may need little introduction.  Since its launch in 2008, the event has enjoyed significant year-on-year growth in attendance (the 2013 show was 37% up on 2012) and won three best trade show awards along the way (including, most recently, the top prize at the Exhibition News Awards in March).   

For 2014, it’s on track for its biggest sell-out edition yet.  The 300-strong exhibitor line-up is as comprehensively eclectic as ever – filled with a who’s who of companies that will be helping to shape the future of the catering sector over the next twelve months.

“I think lunch! is the premier place for food retailers to get an insight into all the food innovation that is happening across the country,” comments frequent visitor Andrew Walker, former MD of Pret A Manger.

It is this focus on innovation, which keeps leading operators like Dobbies, Haskins, M&S, Tesco, EAT., Waitrose, Costa, Harrods, Gate Gourmet, Network Rail, Compass, Sodexo, Brakes and Hilton Worldwide to thousands of independents, returning year after year.

The latest innovations

Valued at over £14.9bn, the British lunchtime market is big business.  And it’s only going to get bigger.  Get your food-to-go offering right and your garden centre catering can offer plenty of lucrative sales. 

New exhibitors for 2014 include Metcalfe's skinny, Manitowoc Foodservice, Meridian Foods, Of The Earth Superfoods, Sarrion’s Macarons, Jax Coco, CHOC +, Duke of Delhi, Jealous Sweets, Coburg Coffee Company, and Francino.  

Returning exhibitors include Reynards (UK), Pidy, The Consett Popcorn Company, Taylors of Harrogate, eteaket Tea, Sweet Ideas, Sponge Cakes, Crown Foods - WAT KITCHEN, Square Pie, Freshfayre Chilled Foodservice, Adelie Foods Group, Odysea, Glen Dimplex Professional Appliances, Radnor Hills, SFD, Tudor Tea & Coffee, Butterware, Biopac, Bel UK Foodservice, Kavis, and Alan Nuttall. 

Make a date with lunch!

The show’s Working lunch! Theatre (sponsored by Magrini) is renowned for attracting ‘inspirational’ big names from across the food to go retailing and contract catering industry, and this year is no exception.  Confirmed speakers include representatives from Starbucks, EAT., Leon, Cook & Garcia, Pizza Rossa, British crowdfunding site Crowdcube, Horizons, and The NPD Group; plus an ‘Allergens Legislation Update’ from Wendy Duncan, R&D deploy manager at Unilever Food Solutions. 

Martin Hambleton, head of procurement & innovation at En Route International, will also be adding lunch! speaker duties to his impressive resumé.  As a former senior buyer at EAT. and Elior UK, Hambleton has been an “avid supporter of lunch! since the conception”, calling it “the best trade show a buyer can attend”. 

“I always find lunch! a great source of trends and innovation,” comments Hambleton.  “Lunch times are notoriously short these days, and food-to-go needs to deliver the lunch experience in short, sharp and innovative ways.”

The show’s free Keynotes, the popular 30-stand Innovation Zone, the annual British Smoothie Championships (also sponsored by Magrini), and the Innovation Challenge Showcase (offering a preview of all the latest new product developments) are all located on the show’s aptly-named Upper Feature Level.  

lunch! returns to the Business Design Centre, London on 23-24 September 2014. To register for your free trade ticket to lunch! in advance, please visit www.lunchshow.co.uk (and quote priority code LUN98 where prompted).

It has been a busy summer for Coletta & Tyson Garden Centre after securing its 18,000^th Loyalty Club member....

The Woodmansey-based centre has reached the milestone as visitor numbers continue to rise after recently opening its refurbished Oasis Café and new 4pets animal store.

Paul Tyson, of Coletta & Tyson Garden Centre, said: “The Loyalty Club is a great way to reward our customers for their support.

“To reach 18,000 Loyalty Club members is a great achievement but we don’t want to stop there. The centre has undergone some major improvements over the last couple of years in a bid to make it a destination rather than just a garden centre, and we are beginning to see the rewards of that.

“4pets is proving extremely popular and Oasis Café is bustling every day. Footfall is continuing to rise and we are looking forward to what will hopefully be our busiest summer yet.

“We remain focused on providing the best possible products at the best possible prices for our customers.”

Coletta & Tyson’s Loyalty Club is free to join and points can be accrued through purchases in the garden centre, 4pets or Oasis Café.

There are three levels within the Loyalty Club: Bronze – for every pound spent the customer is rewarded with one point; Silver – after spending £250, the customer will be rewarded two points per pound; and Gold – after spending £500, the customer will be rewarded three points per pound.

Every point is worth one penny, which can be redeemed in the garden centre.

Loyalty Club members will also be the first to hear about upcoming events, offers and promotions.

Visit http://www.colettagardencentre.co.uk/loyalty-club/ for more information.

Each week Catering Design Group, one of the UK’s leading restaurant and commercial catering design companies, provides readers of GTN Food Xtra with a range of solutions, hints and tips around the theme: “Are you wise to the value of good design!”

This weeks topic is:  “Understanding your DNA”

Good design starts with good research.

A great designer will get to know the clients DNA and how you want your customers to see and enjoy the space. It is so important to really get under the skin of what you want to achieve and to understand your values, personality, history of the business, the local area, your customers, together with potential new customers and of course the competition. 

Successful restaurants and cafés have a point of difference and an individual personality which has to be determined at the outset to obtain customer buy-in and drive loyalty. 

To find out more, contact Catering Design Group at: info@cateringdesign.co.uk

http://www.cateringdesign.co.uk/

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.

The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra printed newsletter.

As the year goes on we give sales volume comparisons with 2012 as well as 2013 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £145.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most upto date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk or buy on-line using this link.

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Veg-2-Gro Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.