Local news report a fire at 11.15 last (Tuesday) night at Stephen H Smith garden centre at Otley, attended by 50 firefighters.  A number of pets are reported to have died in the fire. Read more

The HTA is to complete its restructuring by recruiting a part-time chairman to be the figurehead that speaks for the industry.  Read more

It is 7 months since SBM completed its purchase of Bayer garden and established SBM Life Science. So far it has kept a low profile. At Glee the industry will see how culturally different the ambitious, family owned group will be. Read more

Ron and Matthew Bent celebrate an 80-year history in which it has evolved from rose grower to a £20m garden centre and look 10 years ahead. Read more

A new garden centre has started trading at Bonnetts Garden Village, managed by a former Dobbies general manager. Read more

Squire’s has closed Woking Garden Centre for redevelopment, it will re-open in the spring – 50% larger. Read more

Marshall challenged UK growers to grab the opportunity presented by Brexit. About Ocado he said online gardening sales are ‘piffling’ and now is the time for this to change. Read more

British Garden Centres have been given permission for a massive re-development of their East Durham garden centre that will create 250+ new jobs. Read more

Westland Horticulture increase sales to £127.7m and made a pre-tax profit of £4.1m after charges for integrating William Sinclair, bad debt write-offs and foreign currency losses. Read more

E.P. Barrus, distributor of brands such as Wolf, Wilkinson Sword and Energiser, is to consolidate its operations under one roof and remain in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Read more

The Kelling Estate has acquired the business and assets of Emcy Garden & Leisure including the land and buildings. Read more

Quarterly results from Kingfisher show a strong performance from Screwfix to compensate a fall in sales at B&Q as the ONE Kingfisher transformation plan progresses. Read more

At the recent BHETA networking event, Amazon buyers were out in force and outlined several services that could take the supplier opportunities to new levels.  Read more

Blue Diamond is to take on the lease of the new £10m Bridgford garden centre near Nottingham once it has been built. Read more

The London Stock Exchange has listed 3 garden retailers in its list of 1000 companies to inspire Britain.  They are Creative Gardens, Notcutts and Primrose. Read more

Frosts has sold its landscape maintenance division to Nurture to focus on its core construction and garden centre operations, where profits fell last year. Read more

Excellent sales in seasonal categories, particularly garden and outdoor living, and strong grocery sales contribute to strong like-for-like growth for B&M as it presses ahead with store openings. Read more

It has now been confirmed that Gardening Express owner, Chris Bonnett, has acquired his first bricks and mortar garden centre and called it Bonnetts Garden Village. Read more

Early success encourages Bunnings to double to 20 the number of Homebase stores converted to the new format, but still says the success of the pilots remains a precursor to additional investment. Read more

Steve Pitcher started work with Homebase / Bunnings last week, a year after leaving B&Q. Read more

Leading heather producer Kingfisher Nurseries is to close at the end of this month, the owners are retiring and have sold the site to YouGarden. Read more

A highlight of the first day of the HTA Catering Conference was Costas Constantinou explaining to Matthew Appleby, how he would improve the Dobbies restaurants. Read more

It has been reported that Bunnings was disappointed with the Homebase performance in May, but that the two pilots are trading well. Read more

Garden centres have made headlines in their areas for reasons as different as a fire, planning permission for housing, giving a facelift to a hospital garden and pleading not guilty to breaching planning laws.  Read more

Having completed upgrades at Long Ditton, Chertsey and Hersham, Squire’s is to close Woking in June for redevelopment.  Read more

B&M the ‘disruptive’ discounter with a strong gardening offer, opened 53 new stores in the UK during 2016-17 and increased sales to £2,035m. Read more

The Sunday Telegraph appears to confirm trade rumours that Terra Firma was forced to prop up Wyevale earlier this year. Updated with  comments from Guy Hands. Read more

Crocus.co.uk, the original online garden centre, is to test a new retail concept with a geographical presence starting next year at Dorney Court. Read more

Blue Diamond plans to double turnover by 2022 as profits jump by 28%. So far 2017 trade has been promising. Read more

Marshalls, UK manufacturer of paving and hard landscaping products, says domestic order books are the longest ever as overall sales are up 6% so far this year. Read more