Dobbies garden centres closing stores across UK in bid to cut costs

Garden centre chain Dobbies has revealed it is to close 17 stores in a bid to cut costs. The gardening chain, said "unprofitable" locations would shut in a bid to "address historically uneconomical rent costs", with the loss of more than 450 jobs.

Closures would be made up of 11 garden centres, including the former Blooms outlet near Gloucester, in Reading, and at Stratford-on-Avon, as well as six Little Dobbies stores, including in Cheltenham and Richmond. The company said the move would affect 465 out of its 3,600 employees.

The closures would leave Dobbies with around 60 garden centres across the country, with nine sites also earmarked for negotiations to lower rent costs to address the financial situation, the company said. Earmarked to close by the end of the year, the firm said all stores will continue to operate as usual, with no impact on suppliers.

Dobbies stores set to close are:

• Altrincham
• Antrim
• Gloucester
• Gosforth
• Harlestone Heath
• Huntingdon
• Inverness
• King’s Lynn
• Pennine
• Reading
• Stratford-upon-Avon

Little Dobbies outlets closing down are:

• Cheltenham
• Chiswick
• Clifton
• Richmond
• Stockbridge
• Westbourne Grove

Founded by James Dobbie in 1865 as seed company Dobbie & Co in Renfrew, Scotland, the chain grew to become the UK's largest garden centre operator.

In 2007, Dobbies was bought by supermarket giant Tesco for more than £150 million. The chain was sold by Tesco in 2016 to a group of investors, led by Midlothian Capital Partners and Hattington Capital, for £217m.Its growth included the purchase of 37 stores from Wyevale Garden Centres in 2019 and in 2023, opened its largest store, at Antrim, Northern Ireland.