A family owned garden centre and nurseries in Telford is facing closure after 44 years in business.
The popular Watkins Nursery at Apley Castle Gardens in Apley is run by Clive Harrison and Andrew Watkins, son of Alfred and Una Watkins who launched the centre in 1964.
The couple’s daughters Helen Watkins and Christine Humphries also work at the business.
Mr Watkins says the nursery is set to close because of bad weather and booming prices and not because of any move to sell the site for housing.
Planning permission had been granted to convert some disused store rooms and hair salon into a four bedroom home on the site of Watkins Nursery at Apley Castle, Mr Watkins added.
But the four bedroomed house would have had no effect on the future operation of Watkins Nurseries, he said.
He blamed the closure on the stiff competition from big chain garden centres which could offer knock-down prices, as well as five years of bad weather.
He said: “We have not yet decided what we are going to do with the nursery until we know what will happen with the four bedroomed house.
“We would have built the house anyway, and we have planning permission to do so.
“The nursery will be closing down because prices are going up all the time and we cannot keep passing the higher prices onto our customers.
“There just doesn’t seem to be enough money to run the nursery anymore, and our advertising has been affected by Telford & Wrekin Council who have taken fown one of our signs at the top of the road.
“It’s one of those unfortunate things but I think there’s going to a lot more in the same situation.
“It’s basically the fixed costs that have hit us - fuel, electric, rent and business rates. We are also very dependant on the weather for our crops.
“When the business started out we were the only garden centre around but now they are all around us.”
“It’s really sad because it’s been going 44 years but we just can’t compete.”
Neighbours who live nearby the property said that they would be sorry to see the store close.
