Owner of Wothorpe Nurseries faced with throwing away £10,000 of stock due to coronavirus lockdown

The owner of a garden centre says he will have to throw up to £10,000 worth of stock away if the coronavirus lockdown doesn’t end within the next few weeks.

Chris Porter, 58, and his family have run Wothorpe Nurseries near Stamford for more than 45 years and have never encountered such a threat to their business and the industry in general.

He said helpers had continued to water the plants since the centre fully closed last Wednesday.

But bulbs, perennials and spring bedding only last three weeks and will have to be disposed of unless the Government relaxes the current strict social-distancing measures.

“They’re going to go to waste I’m afraid,” said father-of-three Chris. “We’ve had people say ‘if we come up we’ll buy them’ but we can’t do that. We’re either open or closed and we don’t want to be encouraging people to leave their homes.

“We thought about leaving some of the stock out the front for anyone to pick up but decided we couldn’t do that for the same reason. People’s safety has to come first.”

Chris, who also has a grandson he misses hugely, said he can’t deliver at the moment as he is self-isolating as his wife has been displaying classic symptoms of Covid-19.

“There’s nothing I can do at the moment,” he added.

After the lockdown was announced on March 23 the nursery continued to do a thriving trade selling fresh produce from Spalding Auction. But when the auction closed the supply dried up and the centre was left in limbo.

“That’s when some employees expressed their worries about carrying on,” said Chris, who lives in Stamford. “I would love to have stayed open but have to respect their wishes.”

He added: “We’ve had people going up watering to keep as much alive as possible but if it goes beyond three weeks then they won’t survive. All the bulbs and perennials will be over.

“I might throw some in the hedgerows to see if they come back for next year. It’s all very sad. It’s about £5,000 to £10,000 worth of stock just gone. The shrubs will be ok as long as we can keep them watered and looked after.”

The four staff members have now been furloughed, meaning they can receive 80 per cent of their wages through the Government’s emergency pay scheme.

Chris said garden centres typically make around 70 per cent of their annual income in the coming two to three months, so the virus had hit at the worst possible time.

“It’s going to be hard,” said Chris. “I’ve been pretty prudent and have always put a bit by for a rainy day so the business will hopefully be fine long-term. But I know some of my colleagues in the business will be closing full-time.”

However, he said customers had been incredibly supportive despite the desperate times.

“It’s amazing how it brings everyone together,” Chris said. “It shows human nature at its best.

“We’ve had quite a few messages of support. They are just wanting to come back! A lot of them think they’ll be back within a couple of weeks. I’m hoping the same but don’t think there’s any chance at all.”

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