Is there a reason why most garden centres are now a very huge & busy cafe with a garden centre attached?

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Beginning_Drink_965@reddit

Garden Centres?

You mean Pension Extraction Centres?

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Drath101@reddit

Money. I worked at a garden centre cafe with 500 seats and it smashed out profits every single day

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A garden centre near me does a farmers market every first Saturday of the month. As one of the traders its really great as you get the usual gardener people coming to have a look at your wares, then your regular customers coming to have a look at the gardening centre. And to be honest, the cafe in this garden centre does do a mean cup of tea, and the staff are all nice and friendly.

Though in regards to that, still trying to figure out how I got sunburn on the last market on Saturday there when we were inside the poly-tunnel thingy whatsit building....

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IR2Freely@reddit

Carveries

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liliesblooming@reddit

A garden centre near me closed their cafe (which had been really good) a couple of years ago and expanded their garden furniture section, ostensibly for financial reasons, and it seemed wild to us. They did full meals and it seated maybe 80-120 so perhaps it was too small to be profitable. It definitely puts it at the bottom of the list now for us when deciding which local garden centre to visit.

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oscarx-ray@reddit

Excuse me! My "oldie" mother and her cousin go to the garden centre for overpriced coffee and cake AND they buy plants! 😅

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Drath101@reddit

How often do they visit?

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oscarx-ray@reddit

I edited the comment to include "every Sunday", but I don't know if you caught that.

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Drath101@reddit

Ah, my bad. If they buy a plant every visit they aren't alone, but they are outsiders. Garden centres attract alot of browsers. They come in, it's a nice day out, they look at the things on display, and then they go home. The cafe gets many of those browsers to buy

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oscarx-ray@reddit

My mum and her cousin are irked by those "customers" as they often get in the way with their "browsing" when they actually want to buy flora 😂

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oscarx-ray@reddit

They also go to proper nurseries for their bulk buying, but that is on top of their weekly Dobbies trips for odds and sods, and a cafe natter

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hebejebez@reddit

Yep worked in one for 10 years part time - the cafe used to have queues out the door every weekend. But their food was fabulous, not the mass produced shite or anything it had a proper chef who was great.

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Drath101@reddit

Our food was high quality, we were in an area with alot of money. I was a KP/dishie there for a few years full time and quite often we could fill all 500 seats for 7 8 of the 10 hours we were serving

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BreqsCousin@reddit

I'm in my 40s and garden centres have had a cafe as long as I remember.

Look for "plant nursery" if you only want to buy plants and don't want to meet Father Christmas and all that.

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FryOneFatManic@reddit

Even 'plant nurseries' can have cafes now. They're diversifying.

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AirconGuyUK@reddit

I actually know a bit about this and garden centres as a place to just hang out is a relatively new thing. Tates of sussex pioneered it in the 90's.

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baconlove5000@reddit

Paradise Park! And the museum bit hasn’t changed since the 80s 😂 (I appreciate it may be true that not much has changed about dinosaurs in that contextually short period of time either, but they could at least update the displays with a lick of paint)

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BreqsCousin@reddit

To be fair, "as long as I can remember" doesn't go further back than the 90s!

You can take your dog in with you, that's a big part of the appeal for my parents.

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EpochRaine@reddit

Yep. Can confirm

The one by me is full of people picking up shit...

What makes me laugh, are the boomers that try and get other people to pick up their shit for them. It's Hilarious.

"Oh be dear and get that for me, won't you?"

"No chance lady - I only came in for a scone..."

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Extension-Truth@reddit

Is Father Christmas an all year round kinda thing in garden centres?

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Gnome_Father@reddit

Why does "if you don't want to meet father Christmas" sound like a threat?

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Icy_Sea_4440@reddit

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vikingraider47@reddit

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Gnome_Father@reddit

No Daddy C, that wasn't the 10" magnum I was promised!

Good lord thats the most cursed thing I've ever posted.

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FlowTurbulent9031@reddit

🤣

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cold_tap_hot_brew@reddit

Reminds me on what my nan used to say when someone overtook us too fast :
“they’ve obviously go nowhere to be tomorrow”

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downlau@reddit

With my mum it's always 'I'd rather be late in this life than early in the next.'

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cold_tap_hot_brew@reddit

Oh now that one is poetic. I like it.

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ExcitementKooky418@reddit

He KNOWS when you are aleeping

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motific@reddit

Someone's heard about Robot Santa...

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Still-BangingYourMum@reddit

You got the coal, didn't you? You naughty naughty person

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CarrowCanary@reddit

I got a carrot.

It's what I did with it that got me put on the naughty list.

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Still-BangingYourMum@reddit

Tips glasses ago on please continue

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CarrowCanary@reddit

I put it in the spokes of a disabled kid's wheelchair so they couldn't move it.

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phatboi23@reddit

I put it in the spokes of a disabled kid's wheelchair so they couldn't move it.

fucking hell i didn't expect that!

BRAVO!

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pajamakitten@reddit

One more outburst like that and I swear to god I will turn this car around!

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Gauntlets28@reddit

Let me put it this way, if you value your good elf, you wouldn't want to see him after he's had his brandy.

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formal-monopoly@reddit

This passed for humour in the 70s
https://youtu.be/KZQOLv85C68?si=svMhP_YG6LuUzBEz&t=122

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7788d@reddit

It's not Mr Kringle you have to worry about meeting. But if Mr Kringle says you're gonna be meeting the elves real soon, now that's when you start to panic

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KuchisabishiiBot@reddit

Probably because you're on the naughty list. Sorry, mate.

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BandicootSecret8012@reddit

😂

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Fair_Project2332@reddit

I'm in my 60s and ditto. the local garden centre cafe served better grub in 1970 than almost any other pub or restaurant in the area.

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DrachenDad@reddit

Look for "plant nursery"

Our local one closed to the public a couple years ago. The closest proper garden centre is either Haskins or the other one up the road from there, around 8 miles away and there's no real bus service.

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BreqsCousin@reddit

I don't know of any garden centres that have decent public transport, sadly.

Some of us flat-dwellers would like to purchase a stone rabbit for our balconies and eat a jacket potato.

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MattHatter1337@reddit

I think OP is referring to the fact that, it used to be a garden centre with a little cafe in(which was usually one of the best places to eat) whereas now they tend to be huge cafes with a garden centre attached to it.

Implying the main focus used to be garden center then cafe, and now its cafe then garden center.

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V65Pilot@reddit

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Purple_Quantity_7392@reddit

I love my “plant nursery” down the road, for this very reason :)

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P19bw@reddit

I'm 28 and love a day out in the garden centre & the cafe. Its the best.

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andrew0256@reddit

Proper old fashioned retail plant and garden centres are like rocking horse poo to find. There's one not far from us and it's a lovely throwback.

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titlrequired@reddit

Went to one recently that had an entire food hall, serving it has to be said incredibly nice food.

It had a Lakeland inside, sold clothes, giftware all sorts.

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papabauer@reddit

You go for a peace lily, you stay for the scone. It's the loss leader psychology but backwards. The plants are the bait, the cake is the trap. And honestly? I'm not even mad. A cream tea in a greenhouse hits different. Plus grandparents need somewhere to take the kids that isn't a soft play hellscape. The garden centre cafe is neutral ground.

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BillWilberforce@reddit

Up until circa 1994. The only large stores that could open on a Sunday were garden centers and DIY stores. So adding on a cafe was bit of a no brainer. Supermarkets weren't legally allowed to be open. Which only really left corner shops and pubs to get anything.

Now it's really people who are going to do some gardening at the weekend. Have to go to the garden center anyway to get the plants or whatever they need and want a relatively fuss free and inexpensive meal. Which makes the experience less of a chore. As well as an opportunity to discuss what they actually want to buy, having seen the selection available.

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Lollygagger105@reddit

Late 70s/ early 80s, our family Sunday afternoon trips were often to one of two or three garden centres about an hour’s drive away. They had ponds with fish! Maybe a nice cup of tea for the parents! Plus it seemed like being in nature when you escaped there for an afternoon from the city. And even now, when my mum comes to visit, we will go to at least a couple of different garden centres for a mooch and for lunch. So in my experience it’s always been a destination rather than a shop for plant pots and pot plants. And it’s an unspoken rule that cake consumed in a garden centre has no calories.

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birchblonde@reddit

Is that true? OP this could be the nugget of information you’re looking for!

I also think that garden centres, by virtue of what they sell, are quite pleasant places to spend time in or near. It’s a little bit like going to a botanical garden, but without having to pay, and with the potential to also take something home. A cafe by a hardware store would be charmless, but a few tables set in and around lots of flowering plants is appealing.

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NOFEETPLZXOXO@reddit

Yeah Bruv I might not have Kew Gardens near me but I can get stoned and go stroll around the garden centre at the end of the road.

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NOFEETPLZXOXO@reddit

I did that today.

I had a fancy pastry whilst baked like a tart.

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BillWilberforce@reddit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Trading_Act_1994?wprov=sfla1

The thing that really forced Sunday trading to be allowed. Was that in the run up to Christmas 1993. All of the big supermarket chains decided to illegally open on a Sunday anyway. Selling everything apart from alcohol. Which would have been in breach of their alcohol license.

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birchblonde@reddit

Thank you!

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Possible-Highway7898@reddit

Also, a lot of pubs in the early 90s and before didn't serve hot food, and if they did, the quality was usually quite poor. Gastro pubs are a 21st century phenomenon. Whereas garden center cafes have always had a reputation for solid quality.

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herne_hunted@reddit

I feel that they're a Little Chef replacement. Somewhere you know that you can find a coffee and toilets on a cross-country trip.

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snarkycrumpet@reddit

also they used to stop serving at like 1:30. so pub lunch was like 11:30-1:30 so garden centre cafes were a great alternative if you fancied a bite outside those times.

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bex_2601@reddit

I had to scroll way too far to find this. Op this is the answer.

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luala@reddit

One answer that’s not been covered is these places are often highly accessible. You can park, have a gentle walk (or wheel) through some nice plants and gift bits, to a spacious cafe where you can park your zimmer next to your seat. There are also spacious accessible bathrooms nearby. It’s a genteel outing that’s probably not going to break the bank either.

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Specific_Telephone_3@reddit

And usually dog friendly too

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Overall_Dream_3195@reddit

Our garden centre allows dogs and it’s one of our favourite ways to spend a Sunday. We take a walk around the aquarium centre for the dog to look at the fish and then onto the pet shop for her to pick out a treat and a toy. Then onto the plants and the other side stores and we finish with a bite to eat in the cafe that has one side that’s dog friendly. They even have a menu for dogs and bring them a bowl of water over. It’s like Disneyland for my dog and I’m grateful that places like this exist. I know dogs being allowed into places isn’t popular with everyone but I don’t think it hurts with a place like this.

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Splodge89@reddit

I’m exactly the same with my pooch. She loves a day out at the garden centre.

If you’re ever near the Cotswolds, the Cotswolds wildlife park is dog friendly. There’s not many places you can get a photo of your dog with a rhino in the background!

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Overall_Dream_3195@reddit

I’ll definitely keep that in mind for our next trip. My dog would absolutely love that!

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Splodge89@reddit

Birdland just up the road from it is another firm favourite too. Here’s her enjoying the birds:

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Overall_Dream_3195@reddit

Aww, she looks completely enthralled 😊 thank you for these recommendations, really appreciate it.

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Splodge89@reddit

No problem with the recommendations. They’re two of my favourite places. I’m more than happy to push business there way!

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Specific_Telephone_3@reddit

Yeah especially when it's midwinter and it's been raining for 5 days and you can't face washing the dog again. Going for an clean mostly indoor but at least non muddy outdoor sniff adventure with a hot drink at the end is so needed.

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redgoose6@reddit

as someone who’s mum is one: old ladies LOVE a day out at the garden centre. it’s everything they need, no more, no less

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solifugo@reddit

The best part is that they cover for toddlers as well. We have a Dobbies subscriptions that gives you 2 hot drinks per month, so we go there with our son, see all the toys, run through the garden, look the aquarium stuff to find Nemo and have couple of coffees and a babycino... It has been our perfect rainy evening plan for the winter weekends!

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folklovermore_@reddit

Honestly, as a kid (and now as a 38 year old who doesn't have a garden), the best bits of the garden centre were the bits that didn't actually relate to gardening.

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newbracelet@reddit

My gran has a club where it's a bunch of old ladies who get a minibus to a different garden centre once a fortnight. We're talking up to 2 hours away just to go to a garden centre for a few hours. She absolutely loves it.

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Consistent_Sale_7541@reddit

oh man, i’d love this!!

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ZebraCrosser@reddit

A visit to the garden centre is a fairly common outing for Dutch nursing homes.

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Low-Cauliflower1603@reddit

Okay but if they offered this for 30-somethings I’d be so down! 😂

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Icy_Sea_4440@reddit

This might need to be organized

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Opinion87@reddit

Smells like a slice of fried gold! I wonder if we could make this happen 😂

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BigBananaBerries@reddit

Party bus to the garden centre.

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kichisowseri@reddit

Same!

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LaurenNotABot@reddit

Same !

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pajamakitten@reddit

Sounds like a pub crawl for OAPs.

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Illustrious-Milk6518@reddit

This is the most wholesome thing!

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Cathenry101@reddit

Do they also solve murders?

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blodyn@reddit

I used to work at a garden centre which was next to a motorway junction. Was a very popular stop for coaches. We used to call them “a tea and a pee” stoppers

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RetiredFromIT@reddit

My garden centre cafe has certain tables (larger ones, 8+) designated as "talking tables", with signs saying that if you don't mind chatting to strangers sit here. For many of the older folk I've spoken to, it will be the only conversation they have all day.

I think it is a lovely idea.

(There are plenty of 4-6 seater tables, for those not wishing to talk.)

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Opinion87@reddit

Fantastic idea.

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RetiredFromIT@reddit

I think my local garden centre café did it off their own ideas, but there is also this:

https://thechattycafescheme.co.uk/register/

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Redgrapefruitrage@reddit

I (33F) love a garden centre and cafe outing with my mum (60). Buy some houseplants, have some tea and cake, perfect day out for me. So it’s not just the elderly there!

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Opinion87@reddit

I went to our local one wth my Nan last week and there were five dogs from the Essex Golden Retriever Club. It was fantastic! Apparently they do visits at other garden centres around Essex, as two of the dogs are therapy dogs.

And yes, the dogs were with owners.

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bright-and-breezy@reddit

I'm glad you said this, I went to a garden centre for my 39th birthday last year!

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pm_me_your_amphibian@reddit

My best friend sent me two lots of vouchers for my birthday this year. One for each of my two favourite garden centres. Legend.

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Sabrielle24@reddit

I (34F) love a garden centre trip with my similarly aged friends/girlfriend. They’re just really nice places and the cafes are usually pretty good, if a bit pricey.

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naalbinding@reddit

They're there for the soft play pretty ofteb

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DrBob2016@reddit

yeah, my mum also loved a trip to a Garden Center and a lot of the larger ones in addition to the Cafe are more like a mini market and gift emporium. Even though I wasn't too keen on them I really miss taking her out to them.

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Cinnamon-Dream@reddit

And mums with new babies. I never understood why all the mums went to garden centres till I had one. Coffee, cake, baby sensory, good toilets. All you need for a morning out between naps!

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frankchester@reddit

It’s me I’m old ladies.

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elmo298@reddit

I, 36M, am in agreement with the old ladies

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WotanMjolnir@reddit

When I lived on the Isle of Wight there was a big garden centre just outside Ryde (Busy Bees - I’m sure everyone on the island knows it). There used to be regular minibus trips out there from the various residential homes, and the cafe was always packed.

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pm_me_your_amphibian@reddit

My friends and I count a good garden centre (and exotic pet shops) crawl as a perfect weekend.

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polodabear2001@reddit

The one my mom worked at for about 3 weeks before falling out with the manager did roast dinners for the oldies. Obviously anyone can have it but the oldies were the main customers

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Euphoric-Wall-2576@reddit

I'm in my 40s and I have often wished my local garden centre had a cafe so I could make a day of it. It's such a nice space.

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Saw_Boss@reddit

as someone who’s mum is one

Awfully young mum.

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AnastasiaRomanot@reddit

This.

I don’t garden, but as a wheelchair user, going for a coffee in town can be a logistical nightmare with cobblestones, pedestrianised spaces, and small Victorian buildings turned into a Costa where it’s like the Krypton Factor getting to a table that fits me without knocking a drink out of someone’s hand.

Bloody great garden centre with guaranteed disabled parking by the door and usually an amazing selection of locally made food with plenty of space to navigate without knocking over a granny will have me happily spending 4x the price for a meet up. (Usually because I find the pork pie selection.)

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Consistent_Sale_7541@reddit

after some plant and other shopping, it’s good to have a nice cup of tea/coffee and a sit down. then a pee and more shopping. GCs aren’t daft lol

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Odd_Championship7286@reddit

Yeah my parents take my grandma once a month at least just to get her out the house, get some fresh air in the plant section and have a piece of cake at the cafe. It’s an old person la perfect day out (and also mine)

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fjtuk@reddit

The average garden centre cafe makes a 3 star Michelin restaurant look like great value for money

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Salt-Respect7200@reddit

Yes, our local does two for one breakfasts, but honestly by the time you’ve added a cup of tea each and some toast you may as well have gone to the local greasy spoon as it works out cheaper for two breakfasts with tea and toast included.

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ffwillis@reddit

Most of the value from these comes from the intangibles. The experience, a quiet and easily accessible space generally aimed at the older generations. That’s what makes them worth the price.

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herefromthere@reddit

Garden centre cafes are not quiet. Often in a big open echoey space with lots of clattering cutlery and scraping chairs and Betty and Mabel bellowing at each other and kids running around screaming.

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Short-Lingonberry671@reddit

My young kids LOVE a garden centre too - they get to roam through plants, see some cool fish, and end up with a chocolate milk in the cafe if they behave!

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olivinebean@reddit

Some of my favourite childhood memories with my grandad is when he took me to the local garden centre and just left me to explore the plants and sheds area.

I didn't even know they had a play park until a few years ago, probably because this man used to haggle in charity shops and the play area cost something...

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Firepearlrabbit@reddit

This, lots of space to mamoeveur. Im disabled and pn a bad day where I still want to be out but not negotiate the high street with broken paving slabs, steps onto shops etc. And before my gran was bedbound we could chuck her in a chair and my mum could push her around because there was a smooth surface with plenty of space for turning.

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itstabitha@reddit

Yes to accessible! Getting a pram round is so much easier than it would be to go into one of the narrow, pokey cafe doors on the high street that is inevitably up at least one step and requires juggling to get the door open and pull up the pram at the same time. Garden centre is just park up and go!

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kichisowseri@reddit

If it's not breaking the bank I wanna know what garden centres you're going to 😭

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P1zzaBagels@reddit

My partner does finance for one of these places (that has multiple locations) and they make BANK from these restaurants.

The prices are extortionate too. Even with the discount she can get it's still ridiculously pricey, I have no idea who actually goes to these places.

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LucyLovesApples@reddit

Yes my nanna loves doing this as she cannot care for a garden by herself anymore. Sometimes she helps picks flowers for my garden but as a woman in her 90s she needs to sit down more often which is why the cafe is handy

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Odd-Philosopher-1578@reddit

My dad goes at least once a week, never bought a plant.

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No_Doughnut3257@reddit

£16.40 for a breakfast and cappuccino at my local

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banwe11@reddit

Because despite what Reddit likes to think, humans aren't perfectly logical, single task oriented creatures.

People don't wake up on a Sunday and think "I want a coffee, therefore I will get up and go to an establishment that just sells coffee to fulfill my immmediate desire"

Instead, they wake up and think "I would like to do something nice today, I don't quite know what exactly, but perhaps I'll go somewhere where I can have a nice coffee or maybe lunch, and then I can have a browse through some stuff where I'll probably find something interesting to look at and think about even if I don't buy anything"

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phoenixeternia@reddit

Exactly why me and my pal in our 30s go to a garden centre sometimes lol.

The food and drinks are good, it makes it more of a "thing" compared to just going to a café. Often when we're there she spots something that would be good for a gift in their homey foodie section. That's a sale they otherwise wouldn't have gotten without the cafe being there and I'm sure that's common.

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frogfoot420@reddit

This is the reason I go ikea, it’s a day out. Sometimes I don’t even need anything, I just fancy a browse and bonus - cheap half decent food. Add b&m or home bargains and that’s a quality time out.

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folklovermore_@reddit

When I first bought my flat I would take myself on little solo date nights to IKEA. Dinner in the restaurant and then a browse through the marketplace section for a few house bits.

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Bluesky3084@reddit

Yeah ikea is a day out for sure lol, i wish we were closer to it. I didnt get why they served food at first, just thought of them being specialised for furniture only, but it makes sense now.

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gracklemancometh@reddit

I like going to museums. I like to look at old art, weird swords, and extinct animals and end up with an overpriced coffee and cake.

If you don't like looking at tanks and old surgical equipment, and instead like looking at secateurs and discount fish I can imagine a garden centre offers much the same experience.

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pajamakitten@reddit

I somewhat disagree though. I think the garden centre cafe is so well known that going to one as an outing is perfectly logical, especially as a lot of people have gardens or grow plants indoors, so people go to one as a logical weekend outing and will pick up a plant or accessories while there too. It kills both the desire for a nice outing and the chore of getting garden supplies at the same time.

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Swimming-Lie5369@reddit

And sometimes you come home with a whole new project!

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opaqueentity@reddit

100%

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romeo__golf@reddit

Because it's something to do! So many weekends a group of us will go to a garden centre nearby for a mooch and a cake. It'll usually be under the illusion that one of us wanted to buy a plant pot or something, but four or five of us will go and wander around, pick up a candle or a plant or whatever, and stop for a coffee or even lunch before coming back.

Literally did this on Saturday. 5 of us went, I bought a few bulbs for the garden beds, the others bought various pots/plants/trinkets, and we stopped for a coffee and cake. If the cafe wasn't there, it wouldn't have been a social event and those of us who actively wanted to buy something might have just done it online, or gone alone.

(And this is a group of men in their late 30s/early 40s... probably not the expected demographic either!)

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Otherwise-View640@reddit

A lot of people go to garden centers to just have a look without really buying much.

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No-Photograph3463@reddit

My guess is it's got something to do with planning that makes it significantly easier as most garden centres had cafes already, so no change of use etc and you can have a big cafe that gets lots of customers, in the countryside.

The alternative would be something like opening a new cafe and farm shop which as anyone who's watched Clarkson Farm will know is like jumping through 1000 hoops to do in the countryside so just isn't feasible really for people that don't have the money of Amazon supporting you.

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VeterinarianVast197@reddit

It’s a ‘day out’

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Smart-Emu5459@reddit

You put a cafe in, people stay longer, and spend more money.

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imfinewithastraw@reddit

They’re becoming like department stores round our way. They have clothes shop inside, gift shop, home wares - it’s a perfect one stop shop - really aimed at the older generation who have a lot of disposable income. It’s easy to park and then can use a cuppa. What’s not to love?!

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Occamsfacecloth@reddit

The biggest cohort with time and money are boomers, and a garden centre is a nice place to buy ornaments for their empty 5 bed houses, and they can spend twenty quid on a nice sandwich and pot of tea, with the bustle of others of their kind that they can complain about there pensions not being good enough and how disgusting it is that immigrants are having children

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ASpookyBitch@reddit

Because going to the garden center is like a dedicated trip you go and look at everything. It’s kinda like going to a botanical garden but you can pick up and buy what you like.

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Iacoma1973@reddit

Poverty

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Proof-Order2666@reddit

It’s the Cafe that keeps them going . One near us is packed every day and not cheap.

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Daveddozey@reddit

And people say there’s a cost of living crisis.

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ZazieZazen@reddit

Because you buy something green and plant in your garden and it lasts a while. Same with pots and other doodads.

A coffee though, a cake, some sandwiches, a nice quiche…well they don’t last you as long.

So it’s about frequency of repeat purchase.

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EcstaticBadger9313@reddit

I work in the retail & leisure sector for a bank and garden centres in the UK are b(l)ooming. Cheap land, huge footprint, mostly family owned so community focussed, serve a wide demographic, all day everyday, year round.

The average spend and dwell time outperforms supermarkets and retail parks, case in point yesterday my partner wanted a new pot for our front window sill - we ended up spending nearly £100 because we were already there we bought more plants for the garden, coffees and homeware items near the till

There is also still a post-Covid impact on consumer shopping habits, with garden centres easily accessible vs. the high street, people continuing to invest in their gardens to spend more time there and finally quite hard to quantify and measure but the homely, familiar feel to garden centres where you see grandparents spending hours and kids in the soft play. The yearning for community and safe places should not be underestimated

Pre-COVID we always said cruise ships were the safe investment, I’d now say Garden Centres!

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Wobblycogs@reddit

I would add to that the fact that garden centres are in a fairly unique position of probably having reasonably low busienss rates for the size of their premises, easy road access, plenty of parking space, land to expand into, and no rental costs.

They have none of the downsides of being in the town centre e.g. it costing a fortune.

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WalnutOfTheNorth@reddit (OP)

!answer thanks

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siybon@reddit

Garden Centres are basically Alton Towers for pensioners.

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chocolatpetitpois@reddit

And toddlers! Our local one doesn't have a soft play, but it has a display of fountains, colourful flowers, a fish section, endless stuff with illustrations of dogs/cats/'baa baa sheeps'/foxes/'fluffy moos'/bunnies/horses etc., 60p babycinos, and big clean toilets. Perfect place to kill some time with a toddler when it's raining, and since they're considered fairly family friendly and are full of old dears, my 2yo running around and pointing out a millionth cow picture is totally socially acceptable and usually gets a chuckle from people.

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Moongazer09@reddit

More like Alton Flowers.....🤣

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invisibleredditor2@reddit

A lot of them are on the side of of dual carriageways and can be a nice pit stop over a service station.

My grandmother loves a visit to the garden centre, it's basically like a nice day out to have a gander and have a visit to the cafe. They really do sell some nice gifts there though that you can't get elsewhere!

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phetea@reddit

My grandma and her "not a replacement for your grandad, gentlemen friend" where never out of the places and that was the early 2000's, I'm fairy certain they've always been such.

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Routine_Ad1823@reddit

He may be a gentleman but he's never a gentle man (with your nan).

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phetea@reddit

I hope thats wrong lol, he's been dead since 2012 and she doesn't even know her own name. Time is cruel.

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Dependent_One6034@reddit

Because it's an all in one day out. Take my Grandma out, Have a walk around, pick up a few things - Sit down in the cafe, have a look at the fish, walk around a bit more, pay for said things, order brand new BBQ for myself that I told the mrs I wouldn't buy due to finances to be delivered directly on my day off next week.

Bliss.

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Active_Hawk_9897@reddit

Drives footfall.

No cafe means a dead gc over winter

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EntirelyRandom1590@reddit

Because the garden centre is a destination and the cafe leverages that. People stay longer, spend more, go-around to buy more, pull their reluctant partners along, meet friends there who otherwise wouldn't.

We find they are increasingly family friendly. I know several with a small soft play area. Maybe because grandparents are doing childcare in the week or meeting their grandkids.

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the_merkin@reddit

A few I know have also recently installed EV chargers which are mid way in price between a motorway charger (extortionate) and a home charger (slow); as a result I’ve adjusted my habits - now when I’m on long journeys in my EV I’ve looked for and found garden centres less than a mile from a motorway junction with empty charger spaces and a far nicer cafe than the BL/Costa offerings. And I occasionally buy a plant too!

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EntirelyRandom1590@reddit

Yeah exactly, if you're staying somewhere for an hour then upto 100kW is perfectly reasonable charging rate, 50kW would be okay. You don't need 350kW chargers or then you impose a responsibility to cycle off the charger just as you're sitting down to eat.

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Chinateapott@reddit

Exactly why most retail places have a cafe, IKEA, The Range, Dunelm

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DameKumquat@reddit

And National Trust properties! Some even have two or three, but while the heritage and grounds are great, their main use is as service stations on long journeys - good food, lots of accessible toilets - and various elderly regulars not wanting to cook for themselves.

Where my parents live, instead of providing meals on wheels for most people, they take the people to the local NT place, where there's a big dining room, excellent food, they provide easy-grip cutlery and an assistant for anyone needing more help, and the elderly people get to meet others each day they use the service, potter about a bit in beautiful surroundings, then get a ride home. NT get an extra 30 customers each day just before the main lunchtime rush. A win for everyone.

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LittleSadRufus@reddit

There was a story going round that the guy who built the new garden centre in Ilkley actually just wanted to set up a restaurant / cafe to serve the A65, but was refused planning permission as a service station style facility didn't meet the plans. So instead he got permission to build a garden centre and then he made the main focus of that the restaurant / cafe, and the garden centre itself is actually rather small.

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EntirelyRandom1590@reddit

Yep, planning is funny like that!

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RetiredFromIT@reddit

Indeed. Most of the garden centres I use are sufficiently out of town, that I would probably not bother to visit if it was just an out of town café. But the garden centre part is the draw, and then when I am there, the café is so convenient.

Over the last 10 years, I've also seen more garden centres with an in-house butchery/delivery counter.

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Wrong--Conclusions@reddit

I'd actually say for many the cafe is the actual destination and the garden centre is the "excuse"

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EntirelyRandom1590@reddit

Sort of. The cafes I usually go to are associated with a walk around the coast, park, nature reserve etc. I go to those places then use the cafe nearby, typically.

But that's my experience, perhaps others are different.

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Wrong--Conclusions@reddit

That's interesting. I'd say here most of those types of places are already served by plenty of restaurants, cafes and pubs. Whereas the garden centres tend to be in not particularly interesting locations in the outskirts of a town.

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iamabigtree@reddit

Very much so. Or rather it feels pointless just driving to a cafe. But if you can have a look at the plants it adds purpose to the trip.

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iamabigtree@reddit

I think it's also notable that the garden centre with no cafe wouldn't have as much trade. The cafe on its own wouldn't have much either. It's the combination that works.

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bardeh@reddit

The garden centre near my work recently ripped out most of the shop and replaced it with a massive restaurant. There's now a very small indoor shop attached to a large restaurant, with an outdoors bit for the plants and pots etc. The restaurant does a carvery every day, along with standard lasagne/soup/paninis etc. The food looks underwhelming, but I guess old people love boring food like that?

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Routine_Ad1823@reddit

Old people have money. Old people like gardening.

Next question please

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Raisinsandfairywings@reddit

Ours has a huge soft-play which is the main reason I go. Of course you then need to something to eat while you’re there playing for a couple of hours. Might as well have a look at the fish and plants while I’m here. Oh they’ve got a pork-pie/deli counter, I’ll pick something up for my partner for when he finishes work.

They also have a car wash/valet service. I can get my grubby little car washed - inside AND out - while I let my toddler play in the soft play. It’s genius, it saves me trying to find time in another part of the week, she burns off some energy and I get to drive us home in a fresh car. It’s my favourite thing about the garden centre.

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19Ben80@reddit

Food and drink have a high markup

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Horror_Extension4355@reddit

People want somewhere they can park for free, have a wander, have a cup of tea/cake and buy some tat. Also garden centres are typically out of town so no chavs or dodgy types.

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Playful-Section-5401@reddit

Exactly, ours is the only nice place left to go. It also has a lake walk and great play area for an extra members fee, no one smoking a joint while pushing a pushchair is going there so it makes a nice change

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the_merkin@reddit

And charge the car, if that’s your thing!

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olivinebean@reddit

You've touched on one of the unspoken appeals to the garden centre. It's off-putting for rough and dumb people.

That's why I enjoy a picnic in a graveyard and pubs that have big rainbow flags in the window.

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Illustrious-Milk6518@reddit

True. The grey crushed velvet, fake grass and decking types aren’t going to garden centres😂

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No_Accident_6646@reddit

It's one of the nicest things to do for older and retired people.

Also a ripoff for plants so if you want plants order directly from a good quality local nursery or wholesaler.

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Snazzles@reddit

They are pretty much a day out. They can make for a very cheap day out.

They usually have flat, large, FREE car parks with unlimited parking restrictions so you don't have to rush. This is great if you don't have great mobility or small children in tow. The isles are usually quite wide too.

They have plants, gifts, cards, tat, garden ornaments, garden furniture and many also have multiple concessions all under one roof meaning it's like visiting a shopping centre or high street without all the homeless loitering/ chugging/ weather and expensive parking. If you need a "nice gift", plants or a "nice card" it is often a nicer experience with a wider variety than the high street.

The cafe usually has multiple "safe" eating options for a huge range of people, there is usually a carvery, a hot buffet, cold sandwiches and light bites, a kids menu. Almost everyone could eat something. They are also quite reasonable in price. They often have hot drink and cake deals on.

Some have put outdoor seating close to their cafes, again allowing for loitering and upping the cafe spend.

They usually have some kind of aquatic/ small animals concession which is amazing if you have small children.

Quite a few round us have also incorporated a play area and soft play attracting the mum crowd as well as the grey pound. Free play area or cheap soft play, wander round the fish/ guinea pigs/ rabbits. Look at the water features and garden ornaments and then pop to the cafe for coffee/ cake/ light bites and kids meals and you have a rock solid very cheap pre school child/ toddler outing.

They also really understand the "grey pound", especially with their clothing concessions - almost always Edinburgh wool mill, cotton traders, pavers shoes, hotter shoes, sketchers shoes (with the slip on older people styles making up the majority of the stock).

The one near my mum is a destination, there are coach trips to it weekly. They have pensioner day (where the garden centre has at least 10 coach fulls of pensioners). All arrive at 10 and are heading back at 2 or 3 o clock. They are all having lunch in the cafe.

In many ways it has become a bit of a 3rd space, you can hang out there and not really have to spend any money. I have taken my preschool child and baby many times and not spent a penny. It's also a very cheap mum meet up (coffee only or play area and picnic). It's also a cheap meet with friends if you are just going for a wander and then to the cafe without having to trek around finding a cafe.

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throw_away_17381@reddit

Diversification.

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motific@reddit

It's not a new thing at all, I'm not sure where that has come from?

We've had garden centres with Cafe's since the 60's (the first UK one opened in the 50's) - I vividly recall in the 80's as a kid having a family trip to the Galton Garden Centre where they had a massive play area with a castle in it, you could see the aquarium and everyone went to the café where it felt like they had a bazillion flavours of ice cream (it took me ages to choose) while my nan had a cup of tea and a scone... we rarely came back with much for the garden.

I don't doubt they've improved their food experience, but the basics were haven't changed in decades.

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Braveasalion@reddit

I love going to our local garden centre. Met up with mates there the other day and had a lovely 3 hours eating and mooching round the tat and deli. I don't even have a garden..... I'm guessing adding a cafe brought in profits and they'd be fools not to exploit that.

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0rbus@reddit

Former garden centre manager here. The food will make roughly twice the profit that plants do if you're not growing them yourself. With a cafe you can attract bus tours etc and that's even more profit as everyone will stop to eat after browsing the plants.

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7952@reddit

They tend to be relatively easier to develop in green belt than other kinds of development. Often they have grown organically from a small site with additions over the years. Maybe start as a farm building or as an expansion to an existing nursery. All less triggering than other developments.

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snarkycrumpet@reddit

honestly they won't be in this heyday forever. right now there's a generation with so much extra cash they can drive their MGs to the garden centre and drop £45 on coffee, some cake and 3 sets of hand cream/hand soap.

I love a garden centre lunch and often meet friends there because you can have a mooch around before/after.

but I'm worried the businesses will start to fade away when the boomers are gone and all you've got left is my age group and younger who can't afford to garden or go out for lunch as much.

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doejanedoedoedoe@reddit

My son's nursery is in our local garden centre... they've diversified way beyond cafes!

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Fine-Night-243@reddit

I'm sure I read somewhere that Garden centres grew out of being exempt from Sunday trading laws? Obviously they have been revoked for a long time but that's the basis of their popularity, it was the only place open for a time. Happy to be corrected, maybe I've just pulled this fact out of my arse. Also I'm from Wales where Sunday trading restrictions were in place for a lot longer than in England. Something to do with either Methodism or Trade Unionism.

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richard0x4a@reddit

It’s because old people like them and we have an ageing population. Things that old people like are slowly becoming the dominant cultural and economic force.

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transitorymigrant@reddit

I prefer a cafe with a garden, so a nursery or garden centre is a little closer to that plus it has plants. Who doesn’t like plants??

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VixenRoss@reddit

Our local garden centre does santas grotto, Easter bunny, Valentine’s Day photos, summer holiday activities… parents visit, spend money in the cafe after the activities and have a browse around. I’m suprised they make money selling plants anymore lol!

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Cantbearsed1992@reddit

The garden centre I go to used to be a great small cafe now it’s turned into something aspiring for a Michelin star 🙄

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Lemmejussay@reddit

Nowhere else for the OAPs to congregate. Always in areas of old wealth.

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Scary-Dot3069@reddit

If you have money for plants, then you have frivolous cash and that means money to spend on treats. Its almost a captive audience, a garden centre trip is rarely 5 minutes and smelling food alongside plants is going to get you hungry.

Im more baffled that theyre good, like some pf the better food near me is at a garden centre cafe...heck one has a restaurant to boot

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Bunnynutkins@reddit

Visiting a garden centre is a proper day out!

You take out your nan, she checks out some plants. You bring the kids and they play hide and seek amongst the conifers or just stare mesmerised by the fountains.

Then you take a break to have a well earned lunch in the cafe which is normally pretty decent quality.

Finally you finish up going round the farm shop paying over the odds for a squash because you feel you have rekindled your love of nature and the country life.

Or at least that is my experience. 10/10 day.

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Word_Word4Numbers@reddit

You forgot the part where you never use the squash in anything and just throw it away rotten after two weeks.

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Lornaan@reddit

Hey, I've had a squash linger for months (in perfect condition) in my kitchen before I became scared of its power and threw it away

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TSR2Wingtip@reddit

The Cafe at my local garden centre is actually really good. I often go there for breakfast. There's plenty of parking, a nice little walk. What's not to like.

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EldritchCleavage@reddit

We go to ours every year especially to see the bizarre Christmas display of hideous stuff to put outside your house. Giant fibreglass penguins, that sort of thing.

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kreygmu@reddit

I went for a tour of my local David Lloyd gym and it was also a big cafe with a small gym attached, just with an eye watering monthly membership fee. Yet somehow the cafe was rammed!

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EscapedSmoggy@reddit

My dad's cousin had her 40th birthday meal at a Garden Centre cafe. The food was nice, but it did feel really random.

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AttersH@reddit

Also good for a family day out. We’ve got three within 40 minutes of us & one has a giant Softplay & outdoor park, one has an entire GoApe type vibe (shout out to Tong & Tingley) & one has a farm/outdoor sand play (Wentworth). These also have cafes, restaurants, nature trails, you can see Santa plus all your regular garden needs! Tong Garden Centre is so popular, it has a coach park 😂

They are a bit bonkers but a very good day out 😅

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DMMMOM@reddit

It's just a money extraction opportunity. Old people have bags of spare income - the main demographic of garden centres since they are such a huge rip off -younger people are more money savvy and almost everything these days is just Chinese tat, so why not help them with relieving more of it?

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dragonmotherk@reddit

If I want a coffee and an option near me was “surrounded by trees and plants and smells like wonderful greenhouse flowers”, I’m going to that coffee shop

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LordAnchemis@reddit

Profit margins

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toady89@reddit

Garden centres are interesting to walk around, like going to a park but you fantasise about which plants would go best in your own garden. They're nicer than other shops because they're full of nature and partly outdoors which leads to you wanting to spend more time there and generally being a nicer environment to have lunch or a coffee than a cafe without all the plants would be. They have free, accessible parking and you often get to avoid the traffic of driving into a town centre. I don't think I've ever seen a garden centre without a cafe, that's nothing new.

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Swingit_Nottingham@reddit

My local garden centre does a membership card, £15 a year that comes with two free hot drinks and month (and points and stuff for spend) but as I'm going to be on maternity leave soon I reckon this is an ideal morning out with baby, walk down, stare at the fish in the aquarium shop, free coffee, walk back. Maybe I'll buy a plant occasionally :)

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NoHatsNoTrainerz@reddit

Great for the kids aswell, a few near us have decent soft plays built in next door to the cafes. Meet with my parents who have a good time with the kids, abit of lunch then little walk around looking at the flowers etc!

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phoenixeternia@reddit

To be blunt, the older folk love them as it's a nice easy day out. They get to potter around and look at the greenery, pick out some plants and have a nice pit stop in the café before heading home.

When mobility starts to go, they aren't huge walkabouts like a public gardens are, they are mostly level and wide aisles that fit scooters, wheelchairs and ofc those trailer style shopping dollys they have.

For those with dementia etc I can imagine it being a lovely place to take them for the short walk, greenery + cafe stop during more aware moments.

I'm not old, I like a garden centre stroll for much the same reason, but I have what I call (and should probably rename) a brown thumb, I'm a plant killer but I like seeing them getting ideas and the cafe tends to have nice food. Makes for an extended coffee visit with my friends rather than going to a lil coffee shop in the town centre. Rather tranquil.

See a lot of parents with toddlers for much the same reason as the older folks but their reasoning is contained little legs lol. Usually with a cheap or free play area where mum/dad can have a bite and have their kid burn off.

It's lucrative. If people were going to stroll around the flowers anyway, make more money and add a cafe. Increases the appeal = more people = more money.

"Why does buisness do this?" = because more money.

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Ok-Style-9734@reddit

Old folks day out is the big money maker now.

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fernofry@reddit

I suspect OP just didn't visit many garden centres when they were younger. This has been the business model for all of the successful ones as long as I can remember.

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reptipins@reddit

It's called supply and demand, old people love to garden and they also love a cuppa and a rest. Perfect synergy.

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necronomicoder@reddit

Same as why there's a cafe in bookshops and department stores; keep people around to buy stuff, make money, give you a bit of a rest, make a day out of it, etc.

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I_ALWAYS_UPVOTE_CATS@reddit

The answer to 'why a garden centre' as opposed to just opening a big café is likely because the garden centre was already there and the owners realised it would be more lucrative to turn it into a whole day out. There isn't some overarching authority allocating garden centres instead of cafés to a certain area.

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RhubarbOtter@reddit

One other reason is because there were loads of EU grants for rural development and existing business pivoting and diversifying before we left the EU. I was on an assessment panel and we granted quite a few substantial, non-repayable grants (biggest was maybe £200k?) to local garden centres for them to develop a cafe and the supporting infrastructure. Personally, I thought this was BS as there was no need for a repayment so it was pretty much an instant profit boost for the business, but I know it happened quite a lot over quite a few funding streams.

Should add that these were independent places, not chains like Dobbies.

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hopefullyhelpfulplz@reddit

It's nice going to a garden centre rather than any other cafe because they are usually large, open spaces, lots of greenery & light, and so on. There's a garden centre & two regular cafes in the park near me and the garden centre is by far the nicest of the three because it's, well, like sitting in a garden.

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poshbakerloo@reddit

I find it interesting how the growth of garden centres has correlated with the decline of department stores. Even though the modern day garden centre now sells clothes, furniture, food, ornaments, gifts etc

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Icy-Belt-8519@reddit

Now? I remember as a kid my nan would take me to the garden centre cafe every month probably, except christmas and that was like weekly cause the decorations were always over the top lol

But yeh, it's not something new it's always been that way, atleast where I am

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ukbot-nicolabot@reddit

OP marked this as the best answer, given by /u/EcstaticBadger9313.

I work in the retail & leisure sector for a bank and garden centres in the UK are b(l)ooming. Cheap land, huge footprint, mostly family owned so community focussed, serve a wide demographic, all day everyday, year round.

The average spend and dwell time outperforms supermarkets and retail parks, case in point yesterday my partner wanted a new pot for our front window sill - we ended up spending nearly £100 because we were already there we bought more plants for the garden, coffees and homeware items near the till

There is also still a post-Covid impact on consumer shopping habits, with garden centres easily accessible vs. the high street, people continuing to invest in their gardens to spend more time there and finally quite hard to quantify and measure but the homely, familiar feel to garden centres where you see grandparents spending hours and kids in the soft play. The yearning for community and safe places should not be underestimated

Pre-COVID we always said cruise ships were the safe investment, I’d now say Garden Centres!

^(What is this?)

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ams3000@reddit

Dwell time means likely to spend time. Previously people only visited when they needed something - so pretty seasonally. Now it’s a constant and allows them to stay open and profitable.

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volster@reddit

For people above a certain age, garden centres are the default light-outing destination.

Even if you're not particularly in need of any more plants you can take your elderly mum / nan there, have a mooch about and then go to the cafe.

You're going there for the cafe, but importantly the garden centre provides a pretext why you can't just have coffee on their sofa (which is why a cafe by itself doesn't work), and something to do together for an hour or so's worth of mooching about.

It's generally semi indoors, semi climate controlled and importantly when dealing with old people - Level enough to push those wheelbarrows they all have about and never too far from the car-park when they've had enough.

Old people can be hard work when it comes to food, so they're generally a better bet than farm shops which tend to be the other main "thing + a cafe".

Not to mention that the seasons provide more of a rotating selection [stuff] to gawp at vs a comparatively static food range, and because they take up more space even if its busy you're unlikely to feel crowded.

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mordhoshogh@reddit

Hey! They're not just cafe and plants. Most of them also sell ceramic owls.

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worldworn@reddit

Seems pretty obvious, that any question related to a business. Is often answered by "because it's profitable".

That's what a business exists to do, so that's what drives most decisions.

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Mumstheword76@reddit

People like to browse in garden centres and they're nice places to be so it makes sense to make it a morning or afternoon day out including a beverage or a meal.

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Jacktheforkie@reddit

The plants aren’t too profitable, the cafe is extremely profitable

Especially when it’s £3.90 for this portion of chips

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PomPomBumblebee@reddit

They are nice big open spaces to go and rmore reasons to stay and spend money.

So imagine a really nice park with flower beds people who love outdoor spaces and gardens love. Have a public car park so more people can visit and enjoy the space. Maybe add a fountain and a duck/ fish pond, brings more people. Then add a play park and a cafe and an ice cream stands, some refreshments and places to sit. Then a gift shop. Then maybe some crafts and a nice Cotton trader shop.

That's why. When I was a kid they were HUGE but 98% garden center, if you were lucky there would be a fish pond and a small cafe, but nothing to do after an hour. My mother would spend the entire morning or afternoon there, I'm taking 3-4 hours and my sister and I learned to bring books with us because we were so bored after an hour we would find places to hide and seek but after getting told off then it was just torture.

Love them now.

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hhfugrr3@reddit

My guess is that old people love a garden centre. They also love "taking the weight off", drinking tea and having lunch. So a feck off big cafe just makes good business sense. Not sure there's any tax breaks etc involved.

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d3gu@reddit

Are you new to the world? Garden Centre cafes have always been a thing, it's a reason most people go.

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Emotional-Brief3666@reddit

Footfall and the disposable income of their demographic. Boomers like me who have some spare cash in other words. Plus, as others have said, the kerching! factor. Much more profitable to sell a coffee and slice of carrot cake for £12 than a potted plant. Oh, and they all have car parks.

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Word_Word4Numbers@reddit

If you think about the kind of things a garden centre sells, anything that isn't a plant can be bought online for cheaper nowadays. However, people don't like buying live plants online because it's so unlikely that you get something that matches the picture.

So the cafe brings in money that allows them to keep the garden centre going.

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madpeachiepie@reddit

LOL I didn't realize what sub I was in, and I was like, "garden center with a cafe?? WHERE????" That sounds AWESOME!"

There were obvious hints in the title that this wasn't a US based sub, and I'd like to say that I'm normally not this stupid, but I'm really not sure if it's true. I WILL say that it's 5:30 am, I've just woken up, and I've barely started my morning coffee.

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theegrimrobe@reddit

it comes down to money, without them more GS would close

older people like to garden and also like a sit down and a cuppa

me and my folks go to a few reasonably local ones quite a lot for a decent and well priced lunch

some of them have an attached deli, which i also like

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irisiane@reddit

My local garden centre is very popular with mum's with toddlers as it has a small soft play attached to the cafe.

As an added bonus, the local swimming school is right next door so it's perfect for a lunch afterwards.

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darybrain@reddit

My closest garden centre was knocked down about 15 years ago to be rebuilt into tiny flats, but they've only half demolished the building and then left it fenced off ever since. Apparently it is more profitable for them not to do anything with the large space then setup flats or a new garden centre and café that we definitely need.

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perishingtardis@reddit

The actual garden stuff is not something are going to come and buy on a weekly basis, even in summer, there just isn't enough to do in a garden that would need so many purchases. The cafe on the other hand is somewhere old fogies can go on a weekly basis.

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WinHour4300@reddit

Lol 🤣🤣🤣 You clearly haven’t met enough British OAPs.

For many of them, a trip to the garden centre isn’t just about nipping in and buying plants, it’s about wandering around, grabbing a coffee, maybe some lunch. Very few would drive miles just for a standard meal.

Standalone garden centres and nurseries exist, sure, but they make way more money when there’s a café or restaurant attached.

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Icy_Tip405@reddit

Have you seen the prices in garden centre cafes, I sat down in one looked at the menu £12.50 for a cheese toastie and £4.70 for a tea.

Nope stood up and left, it’s a total piss take.

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WizardButtholes@reddit

People like looking at plants while they eat

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Fuzzy_Cantaloupe6353@reddit

Why a garden center and not just a big cafe?

Because people come for plants and stay for coffee/come for coffee and stay for plants

It's the same reason most small petrol stations come with a small supermarket/shop attached.

Bring people in with what they want, they wait around have a little walk and end up buying more than intended.

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iamsheena@reddit

I don't have any of these café garden centres around where I am, which I think is a good thing. Otherwise they would be too busy instead of serene and enjoyable.

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ArtistEngineer@reddit

One reason is repeat business.

I do a lot of gardening, and I used to visit all my local garden centres and nurseries for several years while I created my garden. Then I stopped going because my garden was established and I had no more space to put anything! So what's the point of going back? That's where the cafe and playground come in.

I remember asking my parents to go to garden centres that had the best playground equipment.

If you have small kids, and it's a nice weather weekend, you go for a drive outside the town, sit in a nice cafe amongst the plants, maybe buy a few things. It's peaceful, like a small bit of countryside. Kids have a play. Win win.

Why don’t we get huge cafes on the outskirts of towns separate to garden centres?

We do, they're called pubs! Or Toby Carvery, etc, Pub + restaurant + playground.

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Dalesman17@reddit

Worked in a garden centre in the early nineties, cafes were a thing then.

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Hot-Efficiency7190@reddit

One near me is a cafeteria with some plants on display, built like that 30 years ago. That place is heaving every day with the over young families or over 60's having a coffee/tea/lunch. It's a meeting place for people, families and friends converging on some place with parking and some facilities.

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Pan-tang@reddit

There is always one mad gardener in a family. The cafe is for the rest of the family. There is also a nice connection between plants and fresh food.

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BuncleCar@reddit

i think Girl Gone London has commented on this feature of UK garden centres compared to the USA, though it might have been Adventures and Naps who is a Canadian.

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Har1equ1nBob@reddit

Hang on. Didn't bookshops turn into cafes that sold books too?

It's the cafes and amazon, guys....they're in it together. Clever bastards😂

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fuckedsince1991@reddit

Because people like going ?

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pinklady-1763@reddit

We’ve got a garden centre close by. The plants are always fab quality and they do have some of the less known stuff. The cafe is fab…the scones are to die for!! And they sell some gorgeous cakes and biscuits in the little foodie section om the corner. Can happily spend an afternoon wandering around.

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hippiehappos@reddit

Money and footfall which sells more plants/tat - source I work in one and we use to have a big book area and they hacked it off to give to the restraunt and now we have a tiny book section and the kids books section

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takesthebiscuit@reddit

It’s just 💰💰💰

Hardly anyone has gardens anymore, and certainly not planing stuff to grow.

So they are just emporiums of Chinese crap for idiots and a cafe to pull them in

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Educational_Worth906@reddit

Roughly 80% of UK properties have a private garden.

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1Eyed1saac@reddit

Garden centres near me between them have the best - and I mean the BEST - departments for toys (especially Lego) + stationery + greetings cards + Christmas Decorations. Honestly a better selection on these items than you would get in London. They have the space (and I would assume robust sale/return agreements with their suppliers).
As others have said it's partially about retail floor space.

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Whollie@reddit

You know another point that a lot of people miss is the food quality.

Let me tell you right now, no nights is an absolute dream gig for so many chefs and managers. So you get people who are really damn good at their job but want to see their kids, working there. The trade is reliable so food can be fresh. Cakes will always sell well if you're a pastry chef.

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Ill_Ad_791@reddit

M o n e y

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MFA_Nay@reddit

Isn't it obvious? Aging population and old people like dawdling around in cafes and buying garden stuff.

Likewise older people are more likely to outright own a home, so can do more drastic changes to gardens then renters.

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Grillenium-Falcon@reddit

I drive buses for my local council.

Usually do an ASN school run, but now and then I'll be working out of a day centre for disabled/elderly. We quite often take a trip to a garden centre for a couple of hours.

It's an easy walk around, somewhat low risk wander and a relatively cheap meal.

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windmillguy123@reddit

I believe diversification is the only reason garden centres now exist. If it wasn't for the cafe and homewares section I'm sure most would have closed a long time ago.

Some of the better garden centres now have massive play parks as well, turns a quick trip for compost in to a day out with a £60 lunch.

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iamabigtree@reddit

It's where the money is these days.

Going out for a cup of tea and a scone is what everyone wants to do.

It's great because back in the day this basically wasn't available, if you wanted to stop somewhere it was a greasy spoon or a pub.

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AdThat328@reddit

I've never been to a garden centre that didn't have a huge cafe...it's like a casino serving you food and drink...you end up staying for longer than you would without it.

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Bonobonite@reddit

Thanks for giving me the idea of going to the local garden centre as a way to entertain the toddler on Easter Monday. Found one with play area and cafe... banging

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WordsUnthought@reddit

Because if you're spending a day doing bits and pieces in the garden, decent chance you need to pop out for something at some point, nothing goes down smoother than a nice brunch or lunch from a garden centre café.

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Away-Ad4393@reddit

Our local garden centre sells loads of things for the garden and homewares. The cake is lovely, homemade and plenty of it.All of our family love it from oldies to the children.

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nitnitnotnot@reddit

I think most garden centres are offering an 'experience'. Take your family, have a meal, look around the plants and accessories and use the kids play area.

Not sure if anyone is interested, but my favourite garden centre is at Port Sunlight on the Wirral. It doesn't have a cafe and it is very reasonably priced.

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Extra-Sound-1714@reddit

It's aimed at older people who still like to go shopping for the day. Town centres no longer cater for this demographic, so garden centres meet the gap. They have lots of free parking near the entrance, lots of places to sit down, are usually flat so accessible, with toilets easy to get to.

It's a lie that everyone wants to shop online. But local governments usually try and attract young people to their town centres and ignore older people. Garden centres spotted the gap in the market

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SinsOfTheAether@reddit

The western world has run out of 'third spaces' (places to go that are neither home nor work). Garden centres have taken on that role for a large number of people. People just want to extend their time there and make a nice trip out of it.

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RhynoPlays@reddit

Because garden centres are often frequented by people with young kids or retired people. It's convenient and generally a nice atmosphere.

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Psychedelia_Smith@reddit

Been going to garden centres since the 80’s. They had cafes then too. Always been this way.

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Wrong_Duty7043@reddit

Peter Rugman on TikTok has a funny song about “comfy, modest, muted, slightly dated, sensible clothes” they sell in garden centres. Bang on the money 😄

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Zealousideal-Air574@reddit

“Something for the old people”

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Beer-Milkshakes@reddit

Mmmmmmoneyyyy

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BugBottleBlue@reddit

If you already own a garden centre, why wouldnt you bang on a cafe at the minimum, and if you can get it financed, a soft play too? They rake the money in

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YTRatherAverage@reddit

Ex cafe/ garden centre chef here.

Mainly money, especially for the family run small(ish) garden centre.

The garden centre I worked at wasn't doing great 10 or so years ago, definitely not making enough profit to keep going.

Added a cafe, which now makes well over what the garden centre ever did, generating enough money to refurb the entire garden centre (adding entire new structures, making it more modern etc.)

Funny thing is even though the cafe is insanely busy, if you went through the garden centre at peak cafe busy times the plant section was generally still dead.

The way it really worked is if people had to wait for tables, then they'd be forced to walk around the rest of the garden centre, meaning higher chance of buying.

Problem is the gift/ non plant areas are just general tat you find in every garden centre, and the one I worked at was particularly expensive as well.

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MaltedMilkBiscuits10@reddit

Me and my partner in our 30s visit garden centres as something to do.

It's not just buying plants no more. As someone with a lot of retail experience, it's about creating an "experience".

The question gets asked, how can we expand our income?

Hospitality can be incredibly profitable if you keep your overheads low. They have also taken advantage of 'renting space' for people I sell their products there. You might have a independent small business selling candles, they provide the candles and take commissions on every candle sold. The garden centre doesn't need to pay for that stock, it's basically free money if it gets sold.

You got to think of the journey, someone doesn't want to spend £100 on plants, they rock up, buy a plant at £5.99 and a garden ornament for £19.99, they even go into the cafe, spend £40 on, tea, cakes and a main meal. They go back into the building to pay, but spot birthday gifts and buy a candle for £20 and a bottle of whiskey for £40. In total they've put way more money through the till than they would have just buying the typical plants and pots.

It's following a trend of places popping up that are not just garden centres but retail spaces offering quality independently made products. Like the one we go to has a farm shop too selling milk, eggs, fruit and veg, meat etc all from local farms. They then have local small businesses selling locally produced baked items like biscuits, cakes etc and finally, locally sourced jars of honey, jams and various spreads.

I love them, it can get expensive but you know what, they are more than just garden centres in my case and I love you see what's offered locally from our community.

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pinkdaisylemon@reddit

I used to go to the garden centre all the time with my mum. We would spend hours looking at plants and homewares and have ham egg and chips in the cafe. Since she passed away it's just too painful to go it just kills me. But I think by having the café there they can keep you in the place for longer it becomes more than just popping in for a few dahlias.

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Fadesintodust@reddit

I love going to our local ones for the cafe and plant reduced section!

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DigitalStefan@reddit

One local to us has a cafe and a farm shop on site.

The cafe is embedded within the garden centre so the outside tables are among beautiful flowers and lemon trees. It also serves excellent food with generous portions.

My thought on it was they want to capture the “I want a really hearty breakfast / lunch” crowd who then are happy and content to have a wander around the plants.

The farm shop also sells some fantastic produce. Some really niche things ranging from super high quality frozen pizzas, to small-ish tins of fish that cost £10, to some fairly exotic cheeses.

Everything in the cafe and shop sits firmly on the higher end of the pricing scale, which is affordable by those near or at retirement age and it serves to place an anchor onto the pricing of the products sold by the garden centre itself.

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JoJoeyJoJo@reddit

Pensioners are big gardeners and have lots of money.

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DevilishlyHandsome63@reddit

See how long they last. Look at the amount of Dobbies garden centres and cafes that have closed. Their cafes were insanely expensive.

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tres-bon-oeuf@reddit

This is a hilarious question because one of my colleagues lives in a flat with no garden, isn’t even into houseplants, but regularly takes her family to the garden centre for an afternoon out.

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apple_kicks@reddit

Online shopping and amazon so their sales probably come from cafe visits now

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NoIndependent9192@reddit

I worked for a garden centre magazine in the early 90s. People enjoy looking at plants and have money to spend so nurseries moved into impulse purchases and then added cafes when they realised that folk would come to somewhere with easy parking and spend money. I do my know about planning rules but I am guessing that if you add a secondary retail function such as a cafe to a larger retail location, that planning is not required as long as it doesn’t change the primary function.

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Similar-Emphasis-496@reddit

Money

Modern built houses have no garden, that has a knock on effect.

When you have 20' by 20' of maybe grass (if you paid for it) with your new build that means you don't have a garden in the traditional sense. Maybe you do things, add plant pots, dig stuff up etc.

But the number of new builds that have no garden has a knock on.

People who have their garden 'their way' need less from a garden centre, which ironically means the most likely people (gardeners) use it less and less until they want a change, there is more availability of information now, you don't need to go there to ask questions, which people used to. And by something while you're there, etc.

It's a multitude of issues. The days of the UK being 'a nation of gardeners' ended a long time ago, this has just been the knock on effect.

Also as to why, you can wander around a bunch of greenery and pretty plants, pick up some easy to manage things and have a coffee and a bacon sandwich in the morning. The coffee and the bacon sandwich make more profit for them than the plants you bought.

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1G2B3@reddit

Garden centre cafes are akin to dating agencies for OAPs.

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Sensitive-Question42@reddit

To make it a “destination”. Otherwise you can just order your plants online and have them delivered.

It’s the same with shopping malls - they need to provide events or services that attract real-life customers because you can buy pretty much anything without ever leaving your house these days.

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FourCats44@reddit

They have become more of a social scene. In the same way teenagers meet up to go to the movies, older people meet up to go look at plants. And just as there's popcorn and sweets in a cinema there's a cafe in a garden centre.

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Beanieboru@reddit

Planning. Dont need additional planning to add a shoe shop or a kitchen shop.

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sissyjupe20@reddit

In Surrey, we are spoilt for choice for wonderful garden centres and cafes, selling delicious food made on site. Easy parking and a favourite destination with friends, family and especially grandchildren, who love looking at the flowers and special displays staff create for each season. Uniquely British? Who doesn’t love gardens, tea and good coffee?

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gridlockmain1@reddit

Because for many people it’s basically a day out

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Adventurous-Grape481@reddit

Because it keeps customers in the shop longer if they can also eat there. It's no different than having a cafe at an IKEA.

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melikebiscuit@reddit

I'm 40 and love a trip to a garden centre that has cake 🤣 I have local nurseries too that are just plants, but even 30+ years ago many had cafes. I remember being a child and enjoying a trip with my dad and nan to the garden centre to buy plants, knowing that there would always be the promise of cake too. Most have sadly been taken over by big companies, but I thankfully have lots near me that are still independent.

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clbbcrg@reddit

It’s because they are only busy for plant sales from around April until June .. when most people get gardens ready for summer.. a lot of people aren’t serious gardeners .. that’s why there’s candles and all that other bs in them ..

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Matrixblackhole@reddit

I think a lot of garden centres are part of a chain now e.g. Dobbies/Blue Diamond. Although I think a lot of people tend to associate cake with garden centres for some reason so it makes sense there'd be a cafe. Also I think there's just something about garden centres that makes you hungry after traipsing around.

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Gloomy_Pastry@reddit

Also add in one with a decent aquarium or pet store and its like a shwo walk out to a local zoo, park and cafe all in one easy go

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Scary_Art1260@reddit

It’s a great day out, parking, local, shopping and then lunch, all in one place. It’s a very social, pleasant day out, what’s not to like😊🌴🎋

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NoDrama430@reddit

Yes, they’re absolutely gaming the planning system and it’s a marriage of regulatory convenience and captive audience economics.

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Kian-Tremayne@reddit

There’s money in the plants. But many garden centre enthusiasts have partners and/or children who are bored shitless by the plants and have to be bribed with the promise of food, or left to nurse a cup of coffee while their other half browses through eighty three varieties of delphiniums.

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internalpatterns@reddit

Delicious word play!

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TWLemonadeBanana@reddit

The big local garden centre near me hosts coach trips from nursing homes.

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AvoriazInSummer@reddit

People want both a cafe and a garden centre. If you open a cafe in the middle of nowhere people will just go to their local cafe instead.

Much like how people want both an art gallery and cafe, museum and cafe, mall and cafe etc. Folks want to both eat and do something else.

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NoLeave3223@reddit

The key is built in footfall Garden centres attract retirees families and people with time to browse The café monetises that audience without needing to compete directly with high street cafés or chains.

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IcyPuffin@reddit

While the cafe will make a lot of money, they will be set out like this so it can be treated as a day out rather than just a trip to pick up a few packs of seeds for the garden.

We have a small garden centre a few miles ftom us which has always had a cafe as well. I often went there just for a day out and coffee and a nice cake. I have absolutely zero interest in anything gardening and plabt related - although it is nice to look at the flowers

My grandfather was also a keen gardener. A trip to a garden centre was also a chance for a day out with my gran - they got a run in the car, a nice coffee and came back with new plants for the garden.

So its partly to help with upkeep but partly it just makes a nice day out.

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KoorbB@reddit

Like so many businesses, they have to adapt and move with the times. It’s no longer viable to just be a garden centre. They need to attract people in other ways.

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PolarLocalCallingSvc@reddit

Radio 4's You and Yours programme did a piece on this back in 2020: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000nzq0

They also did one a year or so ago but I can't find it.

Basically though - garden centres just selling garden stuff aren't all that profitable. Supermarkets sell plants and compost these days, DIY shops and Amazon sell tools, people use apps and websites for seed and cuttings exchanging, etc.

Having said that, I don't think this is a recent development. When I was a child, like 20 years ago, our garden centre had a cafe and a playground. Going to the garden centre was like a day out activity more than merely a quick nip in and out to buy a geranium.

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BG3restart@reddit

Usually there's one party that's interested in plants and the other who gets dragged along for the ride. Having somewhere to park the disinterested party or somewhere that will persuade them it's worth the trip, is the draw. Back in the days before Sunday trading when I was dragged along by my parents as a young child, it was somewhere I could get a cake and Ribena when everywhere else was closed.

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Kimbo-BS@reddit

When my grandma took me to the garden centre as a kid, it was as an activity for a few hours - not to actually buy a shovel.

And in an age where almost anything can be ordered online at the click of a button and often at a dirt cheap price - why not lean into the cafe?

Aren't people saying the high street needs to evolve if it wants to survive? Well, the garden centre was 2 steps ahead.

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United-Drink7488@reddit

The reason it’s attached to a garden centre and not just a standalone cafe is footfall Garden centres already attract a certain demographic with time and disposable income The cafe monetises that existing traffic instead of competing from scratch in a crowded cafe market.

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irv81@reddit

Diversification of the offering giving another revenue stream basically

Garden centres often occupy a large plot so there is plenty room to offer other services

Dobbies for example even call themselves "Garden Centre and Restaurant"

They have the usual garden centre things such as plants and plant pots, but they also sell homewares, kitchenwares, pet products, crafts, hot tubs and conservatories as well as the cafe, some of these are direct sales and others are partners who operate out of their premises (from which Dobbies will take a cut).

For a time they even partnered with Laithwaites and some stores had a wine shop where Laithwaites wines could be bought direct from Dobbies and Laithwaites members could get free delivery to the local stores

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Immorals1@reddit

People like to make a day of trips these days, particularly older

Garden centres tend to be pleasant spaces, so they capitalise on this

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postmanpat84@reddit

I went to my local Cafe garden centre, felt like I was in my 20s again with all the elderly people there.

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spaceshipcommander@reddit

Because pensioners are the only ones who have any money now and pensioners love shit bland food and cake. What's not to understand?

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Silvagadron@reddit

Sounds like your local garden centre is an outlier or you’ve not been to many. There are half a dozen within 30 mins from me and they all serve wonderful food (and cakes) at reasonable prices and provide a great experience with their other products on offer.

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Comfortable-Fall1419@reddit

Except a proper garden center will have a better cafe than the poncy town center ones at 2 thirds of the price.

You’ve obviously been going to the wrong ones.

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Fattydog@reddit

The fact you think only old people like bland food is slightly odd. The proliferation of shit takeaways frequented primarily by the young would deem otherwise.

Judgemental much?

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Beartato4772@reddit

Also judging by my last garden centre experience, the ones that’ll forgive it taking an hour to make a sandwich.

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BeaksFalcone@reddit

It's like shopping was for men but the reversal,it's usually guys picking plants whilst their ladies meet for coffee and do the gift shop.like nowadays when shops have a man crèche (games consoles,bar etc)

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civil_blinger@reddit

A lot of people, myself included, like a measure of refreshment after walking round a garden centre, plus there's a good mark-up on food. It makes a visit feel more like a day out!

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PennyBunPudding@reddit

After hauling big ass bags of soil into the trolley, I can see why the idea of a tea is good

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Silvagadron@reddit

Many people won’t go to a garden centre for most of the year, so you need products that will entice people year round. Integrated farm shops, cafes or restaurants, themed events around Easter and Christmas, collaborations with local businesses, expanded selection of items to see them through off-peak (books, board games, gift ideas, clothing for outdoor lovers).

Remember that even if a plant only cost them 50p to buy or to grow, they need to constantly spend money to heat/cool the environment, water, feed, and maintain it until it is sold. There will often be many plants they sell at a loss.

Watch reality TV shows like The Fixer when they visit struggling businesses like garden centres and you’ll get a good picture of why they need to expand their offering to survive.

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