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Garden centres in England to reopen on Wednesday

Garden centres in England will be allowed to reopen next week. Photo: Getty
Garden centres in England will be allowed to reopen next week. Photo: Getty

Garden centres in England can reopen next week if they comply with social distancing rules, according to a senior government source.

This will be one of the early steps to ease the coronavirus lockdown and will begin from Wednesday.

Customers will have to be kept two metres apart and there will be a limit on the number of people allowed inside at one time. Garden centre cafes and play areas are to remain closed.

Meanwhile in Wales garden centres will be open from Monday following an announcement by the Welsh Assembly.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will confirm the arrangement for England in his address to the nation tomorrow afternoon.

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"Garden centres typically open large open-air spaces where the risk of transmission of coronavirus is lower.

"With strict social distancing measures in place we believe they can open safely from next week," a senior source in the UK government told the BBC.

The news will be a welcome relief to thousands of plant growing firms at risk of going bankrupt by the end of the year, due to the pandemic.

Fewer than one in five growers has received financial aid from the government's raft of coronavirus business support packages and they were on the verge on throwing away millions of unsold plants.

This time of year would normally be peak business for garden centres with 70% of plants sold between March and June.