THREE generations of the Squire family welcomed customers to take afternoon tea with them at their Wokingham store, and help them mark a special fifth birthday.
Colin Squire, whose father founded Squire’s Garden Centres in 1936, his daughter and chairman Sarah Squire, and granddaughter Felicia Baily, who provides sustainability support for the business, were delighted to celebrate five years of their family-run Wokingham garden centre on Wednesday.
To the soothing sounds of harp music from Camberley musician Cecily Beer, guests were greeted with a glass of bubbly and ushered to elegantly laid tea tables.
The garden centre restaurant was a picture of calm elegance with even the greens and yellows of floral table arrangements carefully chosen to match the decor.
Special guests at the head table, seated with the family were: Wokingham Borough Council mayor Cllr Adrian Mathers, Debs Morrison CEO of CLASP, Michele Munro Support worker for CLASP, Jim Floor managing director of neighbouring fruit growing business Hall Hunter Partnership, and Lucy Neal-Hooke general manager of Hall Hunter’s new Berry Makers online business.
Cream tea was served, with a selection of fresh sandwiches, scones, and an array of tempting miniature petit fours cakes, after which a celebratory cake was cut by Cllr Mather. Sarah Squire welcomed everyone on behalf of the family and the Wokingham garden centre team.
“We’ve only been in Wokingham for five years, but will celebrate 90 years of Squires in 2026,” she said.
“It was founded by my grandfather as a nursery and landscaping business, and my father opened our first garden centre in 1964.
“We’re very much a family business, and all 16 of our garden centres are located in Sussex, Middlesex, Surrey, and now Berkshire.
“We’re very proud to be local, and being part of the community is really important to us.
“We value the support we receive from our customers, and we want to contribute back.
“We were thrilled to be able to buy this site from Wyevale in 2019, and to pour some love into it, re-introducing a farm shop, and upgrading the restaurant.
“But above all plants and gardening are our main priority, because that’s what we’re about.
“We genuinely love this site and are committed to doing the very best we can here for our customers and our colleagues.”
As evidence that it really is giving back to the community, Squire’s Wokingham has made learning disability group CLASP its chosen charity.
They hosted the group’s Christmas lunch last year, and helped them to produce potted plants to sell at Wokingham’s May Fair.
A raffle at the cream tea raised funds for the group, and gave Debs Morrison an opportunity to share with guests the work the charity does to improve the lives of its members.
Around 60 diners enjoyed the celebration.
Kay from London, and her friend, local to Squire’s Twickenham branch, had travelled to Wokingham specially..
“We love Squire’s,” she said.
“We’re visiting every one of their garden centres this year, and giving them marks out of 10.”
If you haven’t visited the Heathlands Road garden centre for a while, it’s well worth dropping in to browse its gifts, wander among its outdoor plants, or spend time in its food hall, bakery or cafe bar.
Much has changed in five years since the Squire Family poured their energies into it.
At their celebration tea smiles were in abundance, and not only from guests, but from staff members too.
The Squire family runs a happy ship, and is building up a loyal customer base.
Here’s to their next five years in the borough.
For information, visit: www.squiresgardencentres.co.uk and www.claspwokingham.org
