Wyevale Garden Centres (formerly The Garden Centre Group) was a British chain of

garden centre A garden centre (Commonwealth English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail operation that sells plants and related products for the domestic garden as its primary business. It is a development from the concept of the retail plant n ...

s. At its height, it was the largest garden centre operator in the United Kingdom, with 154 locations in England and Wales. It became the largest garden centre group by acquiring the Blooms of Bressingham chain in February 2007, and traded under both the Wyevale and Blooms names. It had acquired many smaller garden centre locations during its time, which also helped to allow it to reach its peak. Following financial difficulties,

Dobbies Garden Centres Dobbies Garden Centres (styled as Dobbies) is a British chain of garden centres based in Lasswade, Scotland. It is the biggest garden centre operator in the United Kingdom, operating over 75 stores, some of which it acquired from the previous bi ...

became the largest national garden centre operator in the country by purchasing the vast majority of Wyevale and Blooms locations in 2018. Any remaining locations were sold to independent owners and smaller chains, with the final outlets sold and converted to British Garden Centres in 2019. As of late 2020, Wyevale is currently going through the final legal stages of

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are redistrib ...

with

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

History

The company started as a mail-order nursery operated by the Williamson family in the 1930s in

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. With a population ...

and in 1967 opened the first Wyevale Garden Centre on Kings Acre Road. It became a

public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company ...

(PLC) in 1987, and was listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

. In the 1990s, the chain purchased the Kennedy's Garden Centres chain and transformed all outlets into Wyevale. In 2007, Blooms of Bressingham was purchased by Wyevale, Blooms had previously acquired the Jardiniere Garden Centre chain. In February 2009, following the collapse of the Icelandic investment company

Baugur Group Baugur Group (; Icelandic: ) was an Icelandic investment company. The group began as a supermarket and general retail company in Iceland, before diversifying to own a number of businesses at its peak, primarily in the United Kingdom. Baugur was ...

who had a large stake in the firm, the

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

became the majority owner of the firm in a

debt-for-equity Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore accounting liquidity, liquidity so ...

deal. In 2009, the name was changed to The Garden Centre Group. The company was bought by

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firm Terra Firma in March 2012. On 17 July 2014, the company announced it would be rebranding to Wyevale Garden Centres. In May 2018, the company announced that its investors (Terra Firma) had decided to put it up for sale as a complete business or for its individual garden centres. On 16 August 2018, Wyevale sold eight of its largest garden centres to Blue Diamond, including Bicester, Oxfordshire; Endsleigh, Devon; Sanders, Burnham-on-sea; Cadbury, Bristol; Cardiff, Wales; Percy Thrower, Shrewsbury; Melbicks, Birmingham; and Weybridge, Surrey. On 30 August 2018, Wyevale announced the sale of five garden centres to individual buyers, including Nailsworth Garden Centre which was sold to Blue Diamond. A further four centres were sold to individual buyers on 4 September 2018

, headquartered in Scotland, agreed to purchase a portfolio of five Wyevale Garden Centres sites in England on 8 October. On 21 May 2019, Wyevale announced the sale of two garden centres to Blackbrooks Garden Centres. The sale consisted of their Lower Dicker & Hastings stores. In the same month,

Dobbies Dobbies Garden Centres (styled as Dobbies) is a British chain of garden centres based in Lasswade, Scotland. It is the biggest garden centre operator in the United Kingdom, operating over 75 stores, some of which it acquired from the previous bi ...

purchased 37 of Wyevale locations, doubling their reach and becoming the largest garden centre company in the UK. On 10 September 2019, the business announced the sale of its remaining centres to British Garden Centres, leading to the closure of the historic Wyevale Garden Centres brand.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Garden centres Retail companies of the United Kingdom Retail companies established in 1960 Retail companies disestablished in 2019 Horticultural companies of the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

External links