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FROSTS GARDEN CENTRES |
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War torn Britain was recovering from the war and growing more vegetables and flowers was the furthest thing from most people's minds. But Harvey Frost was a man with huge determination and he slowly built up the business over the next few years and employed the most modern technology available at the time. The business developed into growing plants, principally chrysanthemums, zinnias, dahlias and others for the cut plant trade. By the early 1960s Harvey Frost had spent many years in the horticultural industry and watched with interest as the Americans developed new techniques to grow huge amounts of pot plants for sale in retail outlets. He grasped the opportunities of this new growing method and in 1962 opened up his first retail garden centre on the grounds of the nursery at the current Woburn Sands site. The risks were considerable because only a few other entrepreneurs had, at that time, adopted the American growing methods and made them work in the UK. The Frosts Garden Centre at Woburn Sands proved very popular however and business quickly grew under the guidance of Harvey Frost and his two sons, Adrian and Brian.
Brian Frost soon became the key man behind the garden centre at Woburn Sands with Adrian developing a separate landscaping and garden maintenance side to the family business. The next major development in the business occurred in 1972 when Richard and Candida Godber went into partnership with Adrian and Brian Frost. The Godber family had owned a nursery on the current Willington site from 1890. In 1972 the Frost and Godber families opened the Frosts Garden Centre at Willington. The next major development was probably the most significant. The Frosts leased some land on the current Millets Farm site for use as a garden centre. The two businesses have developed massively over the years and they now provide a destination which is truly a day out for the whole family. Frosts Garden Centres purchased the Brampton Garden Centre in September 2001. The Brampton Garden Centre was owned by Bob Bickerdike who died soon after his air balloon crashed in the Alps in 2011. In 2022 the end was in sight for the Frosts Garden Centre empire. During that year they sold their Millets garden centre to Webbs and their Brampton Garden Centre to Notcutts. In 2024 the remaining two Frosts garden centres were sold and, almost in the blink of an eye, 80 years of garden centre history disappeared forever. Frosts at Woburn Sands was sold to Blue Diamond in August 2024 and the Willington branch went the same way in November 2024. The list below includes all the garden centres previously owned by Frosts. Frosts Garden Centre, Brampton, Huntingdon Frosts Garden Centre, Frilford, Oxfordshire Frosts Garden Centre, Willington, Bedford Frosts Garden Centre, Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes |
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