History
The company started as a mail-order nursery operated by the Williamson family in the 1930s in Hereford and in 1967 opened the first Wyevale Garden Centre on Kings Acre Road. In 1987, it became a PLC and was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In February 2009, following the collapse of the Icelandic investment company Baugur Group who had a large stake in the firm, the Bank of Scotland became the majority owner of the firm in a debt-for-equity deal. In 2009, the name was changed to The Garden Centre Group. In March 2012, it was sold to Terra Firma
The Group encompasses Blooms, Country Gardens, Bridgemere, Heighley Gate, Jack's Patch, Old Barn, Sanders, Woodlands and Wyevale, as well as many smaller centres like Syon Park. The Group has changed the external signage on most of the garden centres back to their original names.
Read more about this topic: The Garden Centre Group
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)