Iverson Road garden centre to close?
I received an e-mail yesterday:
“I heard today that Adrian Hall Garden Centre on Iverson Road, right next to the new Thameslink station entrance, is to close at the end of the month. The staff only heard two days ago. Apparently Network Rail sold the land at the point when Adrian Hall would have needed to renew their lease.
West Hampstead is fast becoming a desert as far as useful supplies are concerned. First Tesco and Sainsbury and now we will have no garden centre. And who will take over the site and for what? Adrian Hall has been there for 34 years…”
If anyone has any more information on this, do please let me know. Note also that this site is adjacent to the Liddell Road industrial estate, which is a potential site for a new primary school.
If this is true, it will be such a shame. I am within walking distance of the AHGC and in the summer buy from them at least once a week. That’s where I get my Christmas tree! I don’t have a car, so this is really my only option for plants and garden supplies. I can manage to carry a pretty heavy load from there, but from Homebase, it’s just too far with anything heavy or bulky.
When the new pedestrian rail bridge was being built and it looked like it was going to encroach on the centre’s land, I asked them about it, and they reassured me that they weren’t going anywhere.
I expect in the usual British way the owners were lied to about it and then received a nasty shock. Very sad news and a real loss to the area.
Just spoke with one of the assistants who told me that the garden centre manager had made a deal in principle to buy the land, but then the land owner decided to open up the process to others. A higher offer from someone else was accepted. The assistant told me that they had six years left on their lease but then after the land changed hands, the rent was going to go up beyond what they could afford, so the decision was made to close at the end of the month.
I am so sorry! I have been using Homebase more, but would it have made a difference if I hadn't? I will pay them a farewell visit – of course they will have gone by the time I get back from Italy…
I hope West End Lane doesn't go the way of Finchley Road, which has lost all its character and is just a boring old High Street and could be anywhere.
There's a rumour that the site might become a hotel. It's just a rumour
Closure of Hampstead garden centre is a great shame. I agree with other posts, west Hampstead will gradually become souless by such changes. It was not only a great local business but also one of few independent nurseries in london. Not sure who is to blame – the guy that owned the land? No, he was just making the most of his asset. The garden centre – no – presumably the owner offered all he could. The council? Possibly, should there be more control over high streets and planning – if it is to be a hotel then clearly the council could have stopped that. Society ? There is certainly a shift away from independents – something the government is well aware of.
Re 'Adrian Hall has been there for 34 years…' No, Adrian Hall only acquired the nursery about 12 years ago, previously a local, somewhat eccentric Irish chap called Frank Bowe owned and ran it.