New HTA president Will Armitage started his career at The Barton Grange Group at Woodford Garden Centre before joining family business Armitage & Sons (Seeds) where he eventually became joint managing director.
He was chair of the Garden Centre Association from 2014 to 2016 and says the big difference between now and then are the costs of employing people, which have risen 10% again he believes thanks to the Autumn Budget's changes to National Living Wage and employers' National Insurance Contributions. This means the industry will struggle to grow and could mean price rises, he says.
Armitage has been on both sides of the fence, with supplier Mulch and running garden centres. His former Pennine centre has since been owned by Wyevale and now Dobbies has it for sale and Armitage says the private equity sale and leaseback model is proving to be unsustainable.
He looks forward to a better weather year, with high hopes for 2025 helped by more industry Business Improvement Schemes and increased lobbying at Westminster.
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