Webb's Garden Centre, Ilford: 'Business is getting harder'

Mark Sherwood started working at Webb's Garden Centre in Green Lane 28 years ago and took over the business in 2012.

“The garden centre has always been here – it’s a community place," said Mark.

“I was told that the original Mrs Webb had a cottage here which she opened as a store and as the other cottages became derelict around her, she just expanded her store until it got to the size it is now.

“I know it is over 100-years-old and we think it predates World War One – people use us as a landmark now.

Mark took over Webb's Garden Centre in 2012 (Image: Gianni Cirillo) “We’ve actually been on holiday in Tenerife and met a couple who knew the garden centre."

Mark said he places large importance in serving the community, including hosting customers of all ages.

"We have a lot of schools come down here and we speak to them about the roots of plants and show them how they grow.

“During Covid we were allowed to stay partly open as we do gas for people’s heating but we also had people phoning us up and placing orders and then we’d go round and deliver their goods at the end of the day.

“We like to think that we serve the community the best we can."

Mark said multiple schools take trips to Webb's Garden Centre to learn about plant growth (Image: Gianni Cirillo) However, Webb's Garden Centre has endured its fair share of hardship, according to Mark.

Earlier this month, the shop was handed a fine for displaying its flowers outside the shop.

In 2019, the shop was broken into three times including a heist that saw the garden centre's own truck filled up with stock and driven away by criminals.

More recently, in June last year Mark suffered a heart attack and only 14 months later was diagnosed with skin cancer. 

He explained that he considered closing the shop after this but the support from the community encouraged him to keep it open.

Mark described operating in the modern economic climate as "a struggle, but a good struggle".

Mark says he has around 16 weeks a year to make money (Image: Gianni Cirillo) He said: “In the summer it's great – we’re busy and there’s so many people to talk to but in the winter it’s very hard because we barely earn money.

“We do Christmas trees and fireworks in the winter but it's so much harder than the summer – January is a dead month so we often stay closed.

“It's getting harder in general though – you’ve got all the big stores that have started doing plants and garden products and we cannot compete with them.

“We can't keep up with their prices for things like bags of soil or compost."

Mark claimed that he has around 16 weeks per year to make his money.

Mark said it is getting increasingly difficult to match the large chains on prices (Image: Gianni Cirillo) “Also, since we left the EU every plant that comes into the country has to have its own passport so that gets added to plant costs – it’s getting dearer for us to supply these plants and our margins are getting smaller."

He says that Webb's has recently begun selling vegetables such as kudo and white aubergine to cater for the nearby Asian community.

Despite the struggles, Mark has no plans to step down anytime soon.

“I love this place, I really do," he said.

“We’ve got customers around 80-years-old and they come in and say how they remember coming here as a kid.

"I enjoy serving this community."