The Underground

Running restaurants across more than 80 garden centres means that even the smallest decisions can have enormous consequences. Just changing the thickness of the bread slices from thick to extra thick, for example, was matched with an £80,000 price tag.
Recorded live at Glee, Phil Wright talks to Ricky Towers, Group Restaurants Director at British Garden Centres, about the business behind serving well over a million meals a year.
From the growing importance of restaurants as footfall drivers to balancing national consistency with local tastes, Ricky shares the challenges of managing catering on such a scale. He also discusses food safety, the technology changing restaurant operations and the occasional menu experiment that doesn't go quite to plan.
But perhaps his most important message concerns the customer experience. With the wider hospitality industry under pressure to cut costs, Ricky argues that garden centres need to be careful not to lose the very things that make their restaurants worth visiting.

The garden industry has made progress in recent years, but how much has really changed?
Recorded live at Glee 2026, Kate Turner is joined by freelance marketing consultant Angie Lloyd and Jayne Hickling, The Allotment Cook, for a candid conversation about women in horticulture, career opportunities and the value we place on industry knowledge and experience.
From the difference between genuine career progression and simply ticking boxes to the challenges of attracting younger people into horticulture, Angie and Jayne question whether the industry is doing enough to support the people who work within it.
The conversation also turns to sustainability, with some frank observations about peat-free growing, the proliferation of plastic products and whether the industry is matching its environmental ambitions with meaningful action.
Despite their frustrations, both guests remain optimistic about the people, relationships and opportunities that make horticulture such a rewarding industry to be part of.

Can garden centres embrace automation without losing the personal touch that customers value?
Recorded live at Glee 2026, Phil Wright is joined by Paul Pleydell (Pleydell Smithyman), Johnny Critchley-Salmonson (Scotsdales), Helen Lloyd (Stratford Garden Centre) and Justin Williams (Fron Goch Garden Centre) to explore how technology is changing garden centre catering.
From QR-code ordering and self-service kiosks to kitchen screens and restaurant robots, the panel shares practical experiences of introducing new technology, including increased average spend, improved efficiency and the occasional moment when everything goes wrong.
But does greater automation mean less human interaction? Or can removing repetitive tasks actually give staff more opportunities to deliver the personal service that customers appreciate?
It's a lively discussion about managing change, balancing customer expectations with commercial pressures and creating what Paul describes as a more 'frictionless business', without forgetting the importance of smiles per square metre.

After 43 years in business, Alan Roper believes the trading environment has fundamentally changed. The tailwinds that once helped retailers grow have disappeared, and he doesn't expect them to return any time soon.

But Blue Diamond Garden Centres isn't standing still.

Recorded live at Glee, Alan begins with a frank assessment of the challenges facing garden centre businesses before joining Phil Wright to explain how Blue Diamond has increased profits by 44%, despite mounting employment costs.

They explore how benchmarking across the group has helped improve efficiency without sacrificing customer service, and how Alan is embracing AI to uncover missed sales opportunities, analyse performance and make better business decisions.

Alan also discusses the impact AI is already having on jobs, plans to introduce a virtual gardening adviser, and how £60 million of backing from Caledonia Investments will support Blue Diamond's continued expansion.

It's a candid and practical conversation about people, productivity, profitability and why Alan remains optimistic about the future of garden centre retail.

Peat-free compost has come a long way, so why is the industry still struggling to move forward?
Recorded live at Glee, Phil and Kate are joined by Dan Durston and Simon Blackhurst from Durstons to explore the commercial pressures, quality challenges and consumer perceptions shaping the future of growing media.
With retailers still pushing for low-price compost, are manufacturers being forced to compromise on performance? And could poor-quality products be undermining consumer confidence in peat-free?
The conversation explores plans for a minimum performance standard, the importance of helping gardeners choose the right products, and whether the industry should take the lead rather than wait for government legislation.
With quality improving and the technology already available, what's really holding peat-free back?

Where could profit be hiding in the everyday workings of your garden centre?
For Josh Novell, a sandwich arriving 10–15 minutes before his coffee prompted a closer look at how Polhill’s restaurant operated. That led to a wider examination of the processes, buying decisions and business habits that affect both profitability and the customer experience.
Recorded live on stage at Glee 2026, this episode of The Underground sees Phil Wright joined by Polhill Garden Centre director Josh Novell to explore what the business has learned. They discuss why more coffee machines weren’t the answer, how keeping promotions running too long can erode profit, and why knowing when a Christmas product sold out can change the next buying decision.
Josh also shares the ideas that didn’t work, including an Aldi-inspired approach to displaying deals, and explains the thinking behind Polhill’s expansion into padel and events.
An honest, practical conversation about finding opportunities to improve profitability in the business you already have.

What does the next generation of garden customers actually want from us?
Recorded at Glee 2026, Kate Turner is joined by Natalie Boynton, Sales Director at Happy Plants, and Ed Hill, Managing Director of The Horti House, for a conversation about a customer who may look very different from the traditional green-fingered gardener.
Natalie introduces the idea of the affectionate “plonker”: someone who wants gardening to be accessible, straightforward and easy to enjoy. From hanging baskets you can simply put on a hook to plants designed for balconies and rented homes, is the industry doing enough for people who want the result without first becoming gardening experts?
They discuss whether plant care information has become unnecessarily complicated, how houseplants helped make plants part of lifestyle and interior design, whether garden centres can offer too much choice, and why giving customers confidence may matter more than giving them every piece of horticultural information.
The conversation also explores the changing role of garden centres, the importance of knowledgeable staff, and how better use of technology, AI and customer data could help retailers understand and support the people coming through their doors.
Plus, Natalie and Ed answer our Glee question: what could the garden sector learn from outside the industry?
A thoughtful conversation about making plants easier to buy, easier to understand and relevant to a changing customer.

What happens when growing your own food becomes about much more than what ends up on the plate?

Recorded live on stage at Glee, Phil Wright and Kate Turner are joined by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, chef, broadcaster, author, campaigner and the man behind River Cottage.

Hugh takes us back to the childhood experience that first sparked his fascination with growing, and explains how that relationship with food eventually helped inspire River Cottage.

The conversation explores why growing food can be an act of self-reliance, how it changes our relationship with what we eat, and why Hugh believes growing organically and looking after the life within our soil is more relevant than ever.

We also hear about his High Fibre Heroes, the connection he sees between the microbiome in our soil and our own gut health, and why even growing a small amount of food can make a difference.

Towards the end of the conversation, Hugh is joined by Max Mancroft from Seed Revolution. They discuss their River Cottage organic seed range, the opportunity to make growing from seed feel simpler and more appealing, and why a packet of seeds might just make a rather good present.

Finally, Hugh and Max answer our Glee question: what could the garden sector learn from outside the industry?

Whenever Michael Perry joins The Underground, the conversation is unlikely to follow a predictable path.
Recorded at Glee 2026, this relaxed and wide-ranging chat sees Michael join Phil Wright and Kate Turner to discuss what could come next for Gardeners’ World, whether gardening television needs to become more commercially aware and why different parts of the sector need to understand the audiences they serve.
They also explore what makes a new plant stand out, how good storytelling can help a product succeed, the rise and fall of rare houseplants, selling plants on QVC and the growing importance of authenticity as AI-generated content becomes harder to avoid.
Along the way, the conversation takes in garden centres as the department stores of the future, the uneasy relationship between sustainability and artificial products, attractive male gardeners and Michael’s latest business idea: a mobile garden centre in an old library van.
It’s a friendly, funny and candid conversation about plants, marketing and where the garden sector could go next.

Gemma Haigh’s route into horticulture hasn’t exactly been conventional.

After starting her career in museums and heritage, she turned a lifelong love of plants into The Plant Parlour, working across houseplants, content creation, design and interior landscaping. She also created a Houseplant Studio for the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, inspired, perhaps unexpectedly, by the post-apocalyptic world of The Last of Us.

But this conversation goes well beyond houseplants.

Gemma joins Phil and Kate to talk about why industries driven by passion can become comfortable with expecting people to work for very little, the difficulty of putting a proper value on horticultural expertise, and whether women face additional barriers when trying to make a career in the sector.

They also discuss caring responsibilities, the treatment of women online, why follower numbers and genuine expertise aren’t the same thing, and what brands should be looking for when they work with creators.

And, returning to plants, Gemma explains why climate change could start to blur the distinction between what we think of as an indoor plant and an outdoor plant.

It’s a wide-ranging conversation about plants, careers, expertise and what it takes to be taken seriously in horticulture.

In this episode:

• How an overflowing garden led Gemma into houseplants
• Creating a Houseplant Studio at RHS Chelsea Flower Show
• Why passion shouldn’t be used as an excuse for poor pay
• Whether horticulture properly values professional expertise
• Women, caring responsibilities and career progression
• The difference between influence, entertainment and genuine authority
• Why brands need to think harder about who represents them
• How our changing climate could change the way we grow houseplants