News
Solicitors key in acquisition of historic Lancashire garden centre
Liverpool and Southport law firm, Brown Turner Ross Solicitors has facilitated the acquisition of Warbreck Garden Centre for an undisclosed amount. Richard Allison, with his wife Suzanne has purchased the garden centre, which has a reputable history spanning over 30 years and has a turnover of around £1million a year and employs 30 staff.
The acquisition comes at a time of financial hardship for most businesses; but the recession has not dampened the demand for garden centres with banks still lending to the sector.
Brown Turner Ross Solicitors, another local family run business facilitated the transaction and acted on an advisory basis to the Allison's. Brown Turner Ross also worked with Richard Allison's parents in their sale of the Lady Green Garden Centre, another local garden centre which had a history spanning 25 years and was one of the top five garden centres in the country.
Brown Turner Ross has a long standing history in the sale and acquisitions of Garden Centres, having worked with a number of different clients locally and throughout the UK.
Richard has garden centres in his blood; his parents built up and ran the Lady Green Garden Centre in Formby for over 25 years until they sold it last year upon retiring. The family have a huge amount of experience and expertise that they plan to use in developing of Warbreck Garden Centre, which sits on a five acre site in Ormskirk.
As a second generation business, Richard and Suzanne have big plans for Warbreck; bringing a young, fresh approach to the centre. Suzanne has worked in restaurants all over the world, including Austria, Australia and Greece to name a few; she intends to bring her global experience to bring a family food focus to the already established restaurant on the site.
Richard plans use his knowledge from Lady Green Garden Centre to improve the current offering at Warbreck Garden Centre, which includes departments for aquatics and pets as well as furniture and lifestyle, as well as developing a gift shop offering. Richard expresses that the most important change will be the family aspect, the centre will be more family friendly and hold regular family focussed events.
Kevin Ross, Partner at Brown Turner Ross said:
"We have worked with the Allison family for a number of years now; we were heavily involved in the sale of the Lady Green Garden Centre and have worked with Richard and Suzanne on the acquisition of Warbreck Garden Centre. It is extremely gratifying to see family run businesses like Warbreck, thriving and moving forward and being involved in the process was very rewarding for us."
Richard Allison, Owner of Warbreck Garden Centre said:
"As second generation garden centre owners, we see the acquisition of Warbreck Garden Centre as a real opportunity to create something fresh and exciting for people in the local area. There will be big changes at Warbreck that will benefit our customers. Families can look forward to some exciting events coming up and our restaurant will be offering quality food with a firm focus on home cooking and local produce. Brown Turner Ross has made the whole process a lot less stressful and the relationship we already have with the firm has helped us greatly."