Market Trader and wholesaler of plants on Bridgnorth High Street market
Rushmere Nurseries originally started in the 1970s by brothers Les and Mel Bromley at Bind Lane Rushmere where they traded as the Bromley Brothers. The business then developed into Rushmere Nurseries when Mel took over the filling station at Rushmere, and Les and his wife Joyce developed the nursery business at Rushmere into a family run wholesaler that now grows plants for garden centres, landscape companies, and local businesses.
Les’s son – Nick Bromley now runs Rushmere Nurseries and has traded on the Saturday market for over 35 years.
Originally fruit and vegetables were sold at the High Street market for fifteen years until Rushmere couldn’t compete with the growth of the supermarkets and decided to concentrate on plants. At one time Rushmere had a 40 foot stall outside what is now Liage Opticians and Tanners and employed 14 girls selling produce on Saturdays.
Nick Bromley told Bridgnorth Town Crier that over the years the nursery at Rushmere has grown and developed and now has two and a half acres of glasshouses and a quarter of an acre of tunnels . Plant plugs are bought with planting now done with up to date technology by robots with a Hamilton T 600 machine costing over £30,000. Work is virtually all year round supplying perennial plants in spring and annuals for spring and summer plus Christmas trees and plants in December
Besides the High Street market at Bridgnorth Nick sometimes goes to Church Stretton and Machynlleth markets but his main business is as a wholesaler .
We asked Nick how the market had changed over 40 years trading. He told BTC that the supermarkets and the internet had made a difference but that the Saturday Bridgnorth High Street market had survived because of its diverse and unique appeal . He has provided good value and quality over the years and he knows his regular customers
The 800 year old independent market has survived an attempt to ‘regulate ‘it in the 2013s and the current pandemic in the 2020s when lockdown meant that income was down by 75% .The market is still going strong which Nick puts down to the regular traders offering a diverse and interesting choice of goods. All traders have had to adjust to the influence of the internet and the large multi-nationals, Bridgnorth market is surviving because it is unique and independent.
Nick says the peak years of trading for the market were the years of the millennium- now there is more competition and with smaller gardens. He is concerned about the lack of parking in Bridgnorth. He says that 50% of his Saturday customers do not live in Bridgnorth and need car parking spaces He believes that the town needs a council run investment in a regular Saturday Park and Ride scheme similar to the Park and Ride scheme at Shrewsbury.
