Covid-19 Tuesday report

HTA progress

The President, Boyd Douglas Davies, and the chairman, James Barnes, are meeting today to coordinate their approach with other retail bodies, such as the BRC.

The HTA says the right approach is that garden centres should remain open. Many have food halls, supply pet food and have a big offer for Grow Your Own with potatoes, seeds and plants. Getting into the garden is essential for health and well-being. Therefore, garden centres are an essential outlet.

BALI issues its continuity plan

The Plan sees the introduction of several temporary measures, to be reviewed on the 1 May 2020, that are designed to minimise disruption in the delivery of core services:

• Internally, all meetings at Landscape House have been cancelled with immediate effect until further notice. This includes external use of the meeting room.
• Externally, BALI employees will no longer be conducting any face-to-face meetings and BALI’s attendance at shows and exhibitions are cancelled with immediate effect until further notice. All BALI regional events have also been postponed or cancelled to help minimise the spread.

The Royal Horticultural Society cancels upcoming RHS Shows & Garden Events following latest Government COVID- 19 Advice

The following RHS Shows will no longer take place in 2020

• RHS London Spring Launch & Orchid Show, 7-8 April
• RHS Botanical Art and Photography Show, 17-18 April
• RHS Flower Show Cardiff, 17-19 April
• RHS Malvern Spring Festival, 7–10 May
• RHS Chelsea Flower Show, 19–23 May
• RHS Chatsworth Flower Show, 11–14 June
• RHS Garden Harlow Carr Flower Show, 26-28 June (we will investigate if RHS Harlow Carr Flower Show can be moved into July)

See www.gardenforum.co.uk/headlines/rhs-cancels-all-upcoming-shows-and-events/.

Other cancellations

• Organisers of the 2020 Harrogate Spring Flower Show, which was to take place from 23 – 26 April at the Great Yorkshire Showground, have today announced that the event has been cancelled.
• Gardenex has announced the postponement of the National Hardware Show that was due to take place on May 5-7 in Las Vegas, USA. It will shortly be announcing a new package of publicity and support to ensure that all its exhibitors’ brands and product introductions are promoted to buyers during the postponement period.
• PetQuip revealed that Interzoo, which was due to take place on May 19-20 in Nuremburg, Germany, has also bee postponed.

Are we a matter of weeks behind France in the development of the outbreak?

Following yesterday’s news that Kingfisher has been forced to close 235 French and Spanish stores, France’s Jardiland garden centre chain has said on Facebook, “After the Prime Minister's announcements on Saturday night, the vast majority of our stores closed Sunday, March 15.  Government authorities have informed us that we are able to re-open our stores to allow animal owners to buy animal feed. So our stores will be open on Monday.

“We are mobilized to allow you to make these purchases safely and in accordance with government health instructions. The usual hours can be adapted, we invite you to contact your store before going there. We also ask you in the interest of the common well-being to respect barriers and all health protection measures, including by avoiding physical contact.”