Sunderland garden centre proves popular with doorstep deliveries during pandemic

Grange Garden Centre in Thompson Road is among those which were able to reopen for business under more relaxed lockdown measures issued recently.

The reopening saw long queues form at centres across the city as green-fingered Wearsiders were eager to make the most of their spare time by sprucing up the garden.

All the garden centres have two-metre social distancing, customer limits, cleaning and other protective measures in place and, despite being non-essential, have been allowed to reopen within Government guidelines.

Christian Carney, owner of Grange Garden Centre, says many people, who prefer to avoid non-essential travel or are vulnerable, still require a delivery service – and it’s one that’s proving popular.

The centre has been delivering to doorsteps across the city as businesses adapt to the current situation.

“We’ve been delivering everything that the garden centre sells, from compost to plants,” explained the business owner. “We’ve been closed since December as we always close in January and February anyway. Then in March lockdown was announced.

“We started doing the deliveries when we reopened. It’s not a service we offered before, but there’s been lots of demand, especially with the elderly.”

Orders can be made over the phone on Tel: 07570 041877 and can be made to all SR postcodes.

Deliveries have become a way for many Wearside businesses to survive during lockdown. Christian also runs Fulwell Butchers in Sea Road, Fulwell, which is also providing a useful service with its Meat Pack and Stay at Home box deliveries.

It comes as the Sunderland Echo is running our #SupportLocal campaign aimed at promoting the amazing things our local businesses are doing at this difficult time.

Do you know of any of our local businesses which are going above and beyond to help support their communities as we all face restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak?

If you do, then email the Sunderland Echo at [email protected] or send us a message on Facebook or Twitter. We want to hear from you.

For more of the Sunderland shops you can support in lockdown see here.

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