Ravensworth Nurseries Ltd, (historically trading as Bradbrook & Hannah) was an English horticultural business and garden centre located in Ravensworth, North Yorkshire.
It supplied garden centres and retailers across the United Kingdom as well as its own on-site sales.
Brothers-in-law Douglas Bradbrook and William Hannah established the business in 1966 and initially grew tomatoes and lettuces.[1]
Increased competition from the Common Market and rising heating costs necessitated a move into bedding plants and later pot plants such as poinsettias.[2] Ravensworth Nurseries became one of only two businesses to grow poinsettias commercially in the United Kingdom, producing around 18,000 plants in 2012.[3] [4]
In 1996 they erected the world's largest hanging basket.[5] The basket weighed 5LT, was 230NaN0 across and 9feet high and contained 1,000 plants of one hundred different varieties.
By 2006, the business had a £1.8 million annual turnover, six acres of glasshouses and employed around 35 people.[6] Since 2006 the business had used an eco-friendly woodchip burner to heat three of its glasshouses.
The business announced its closure in 2023, blaming "the culmination of lockdown, rising bills, and the ongoing cost of living crisis".[7]