Coley Garden Centre to close after four decades

Owners Wyevale Garden Centres say the store is no longer viable and will cease trading at the end of July. Residential developers have already put a bid in for the site.

The centre has stood at Denholme Gate Road, Coley, since 1981 and crowds of bargain hunters flocked there over the weekend to take advantage of the closing down sale.

Prices are being slashed by up to 50 per cent and one customer said he waited in a 30-minute queue before eventually reaching the till.

Jeremy and Jo Waite started the business, then called Coley Nurseries Limited, as Cinder Hill Farm and in 1997, the Garden Centre group took over the five acre site.

The couple began selling mainly seedling and bedding plants, which they grew on-site. Further expansion took place when demand increased for good quality plants and expert knowledge.

Within a couple of years three greenhouses, a warehouse and a shop had been added. The business soon established a reputation for quality and grew into a successful gardening centre operating with a wholesale and specialist plant business in tandem.

It also began to sell a range of gardening products, garden furniture, barbecues, wild bird care products, plus gifts and greeting cards.

The centre later taken over by the Wyevale chain, which also has branches at Birchencliffe and Shelley, Huddersfield and Carr Gate, Wakefield.

Coley will close on July 29 and a spokesperson for Wyevale said: “Retail is a very dynamic business and, sometimes, a shop or a centre isn’t viable in the long term.

“After our careful, considered and routine study, we’ve decided that Coley Garden Centre will have to close.

“We’ve had a bid from residential developers, which will help support our ambitious plans for the business – but of course we’re trying our best to find alternative employment for our Coley colleagues at other locations where possible.

“We realise this may be unwelcome news but we couldn’t find a sustainable way forward for this centre whose employees, we know, are very much appreciated by our customers.

“We will work to provide our Coley colleagues with the full support they need.”