Ravensworth Nurseries Ltd, (historically trading as Bradbrook & Hannah) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

horticultural business and

garden centre A garden centre (American English spelling; U.S. nursery or garden center) is a retail business that primarily sells plants and related products for Home gardening, domestic gardening. Gardening centers usually revolve around outdoor home imp ...

located in Ravensworth, North Yorkshire. It supplied garden centres and retailers across the United Kingdom as well as its own on-site sales.

History

Brothers-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling or the sibling of one’s spouse. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred to as a brother-in-law for a male sibling-in-law and a sister-in-law for a female sibling-in-law. Sibling-in-law al ...

Douglas Bradbrook and William Hannah established the business in 1966 and initially grew

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

es and

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiche ...

s. Increased competition from the

Common Market A single market, sometimes called common market or internal market, is a type of trade bloc in which most trade barriers have been removed (for goods) with some common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of ...

and rising heating costs necessitated a move into bedding plants and later

pot plant Container gardening or pot gardening/farming is the practice of growing plants, including edible plants, exclusively in containers instead of planting them in the ground. A container in gardening is a small, enclosed and usually portable object ...

s such as

poinsettia The poinsettia (; ''Euphorbia pulcherrima'') is a commercially important flowering plant species of the diverse spurge family Euphorbiaceae. Indigenous to Mexico and Central America, the poinsettia was first described by Europeans in 1834. It ...

s. Ravensworth Nurseries became one of only two businesses to grow poinsettias commercially in the United Kingdom, producing around 18,000 plants in 2012. In 1996 they erected the world's largest

hanging basket A hanging basket is a suspended container used for growing plants. The purpose of hanging baskets in ornamental horticulture is to display plants suspended in the air to add to the aesthetics of the environment. Hanging baskets can vary by the c ...

. The basket weighed , was across and high and contained 1,000 plants of one hundred different varieties. By 2006, the business had a £1.8 million annual turnover, six

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s of glasshouses and employed around 35 people. Since 2006 the business had used an

eco-friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that c ...

woodchip Woodchip may refer to: * Woodchips, a medium-sized solid material ** Woodchipper A tree chipper or woodchipper is a machine used for reducing wood (generally tree limbs or trunks) into smaller woodchips. They are often portable, being moun ...

burner to heat three of its glasshouses. The business announced its closure in 2023, blaming "the culmination of

lockdown A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

, rising bills, and the ongoing cost of living crisis".

References

{{Reflist, 2 1966 establishments in England 2023 disestablishments in England Horticultural companies of the United Kingdom Plant nurseries Retail companies of England British companies established in 1966 Retail companies established in 1966 Retail companies disestablished in 2023 Companies based in North Yorkshire Ravensworth