Members of the Garden Centre Association (GCA) have reported that the additional footfall hoped for over the Jubilee weekend never happened, with the poor weather blamed for the most part.


GCA chairman Peter Burks said: "It is disappointing that the industry didn't see the increase in footfall during the festivities that we were very much hoping for. I think the weather put a dampener on the weekend.

"However, the recent good weather has already helped to boost overall sales for May and members are reporting increased sales in most areas of their businesses.

"April was a difficult month for the industry, with the heavy rain causing sales to drop, but many garden centres have seen a big turnaround in plant sales since the sun has reappeared."

The cool, damp conditions in April and early May pushed the season back a few weeks so people have still been able to buy and plant shrubs.

Mr Burks added: "Bedding plant sales in particular were high for a lot of our members at the end of May.

"This will have gone a long way to help garden centres recoup any losses they made in April and means that the lack of footfall during the Jubilee weekend wasn't so damaging to businesses."

The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide. Through sharing information and its inspection programme, the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.

The Millbrook Garden Company Limited managing director Tammy Woodhouse said: "Unfortunately we didn't have as successful a weekend as we had hoped for, although we did see a good start to it.

"On Saturday (June 2) we had a good day with furniture and red, white and blue plants selling well, but the sales dropped off during the rest of the weekend."

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