Funding support to help plant nursery develop garden centre complex

Ravensworth Nurseries in North Yorkshire is investing £1.1m to develop an upmarket retail garden centre to enhance its plant nursery with funding from Reward Finance Group.

Having been established for more than 50 years, the Richmond-based family-run business is the largest grower of Poinsettias in the North of England.

It supplies home-grown plants, starter plants and seedlings to retail outlets and garden centres across the UK. The business also has contracts with councils to supply hanging baskets and plants for parks and high streets.

With land available on its 36-acre site, it now plans to expand its existing garden centre, with the potential to add a café in the future.

The plans were put on hold for a few months when the pandemic closed the business to the public.

The business responded by creating a website offering local deliveries. It hired vans and used members of its team – who usually deliver to other garden centres – to drop off the orders.

Motivated by the success of these measures, which led to an increased number of visitors to the nursery following lockdown easing, the business owners have become more confident about growing the on-site retail offering.

Director of Ravensworth Nurseries, Fiona Dean, said: “Having recruited business consultant Bob Morton to review the business, he identified the opportunity to create a significant increase in revenue by creating more of a leisure destination, where visitors can browse our plants, as well as garden products and accessories, and potentially enjoy a drink and a bite to eat in the café.

“A move which will augment our successful core business of supplying the trade.

“Although we appreciate it is a significant investment, we were disappointed by the negative reaction from the banks we approached for funding.

“Fortunately, Bob introduced us to David Jones at Reward Finance Group, who understood our business, grasped the great opportunity for growth that had been identified, and quickly provided the funds to develop the complex.”

Founding director of Reward Finance Group, David Jones, added: “This is a fantastic family business which has built an excellent reputation as a top-class nursery over its 50 years of trading.

“With the ability to grow their own plants, it makes perfect sense to expand and improve the retail experience.

“As well as making an increased margin on the sale of the plants and trees, there will be no additional distribution costs, as the greenhouses and growing areas are next to the garden centre.

“This puts them in a perfect position to tap into the growing demand by consumers for plants that are ‘grown not flown’.

“Having looked at the business plan and with the right security in place, we were very happy to provide the funds to help the business grow.”