The Greener Gardening Company, the UK retail arm of Irish peat company Bord na Mona (BnM), is to close, with the reported loss of up to 100 jobs, say industry reports reaching GTN Xtra during the past few days.

BnM is believed to have rejected the idea of selling the business as a going concern, despite interest from a number of potential purchasers. GTN understands rivals may already have registered interest in acquiring the company’s assets.

BnM’s PR company issued the following statement on Friday afternoon:

“The Greener Gardening Company (TGGC) has notified its employees of its intention to consult on ceasing production at its sites in Kirkby and Somerset.  TGGC is committed to saving jobs wherever possible. Every effort will be made to avoid compulsory redundancies and to consider suitable alternative employment via relocation within the BnM group.”

No details about the reasons for the closure have been offered.

Sources say BnM will start consultation with employees later this month, with a view to closing its sites on 20 October.

In 2020, BnM re-branded its UK retail business as the Greener Gardening Company, operating from Kirkby, near Liverpool, offering a range of peat-reduced and peat-free growing media brands, including Happy Compost, Growise and Richmoor.

BnM itself, historically dependent on peat extraction, has in recent years re-positioned itself as an ecologically-responsible company adapting to changing needs in the climate emergency. With the complexities of Brexit and a UK ban on sales of peat products in retail horticulture in the offing, the Greener Gardening Company was designed to lead the way towards a peat-free future on the UK mainland.

In July BnM announced plans to replace its Newbridge, Co.Kildare, headquarters with a new state-of-the-art energy-efficient building. The company employs 240 people in the town.