Shops / Shop of the Week
Shop of the Week: Henleaze Garden Shop, Henleaze
Nestled in a converted house between a petrol station and a chip shop, a family-run plant shop has weathered storms to bring colour to Henleaze’s high street for 80 years.
Henleaze Garden Shop was opened by navy veteran John Stenner in 1946 after he returned from the Second World War and, now in the hands of his grandson Matt, has blossomed into a staple of the community.
“There was a lady who came in and said she would come as a child with her mother and was reminiscing, saying, ‘Oh, I remember this when it was starting. I never realised there’s so much space around the back, it just kind of goes on’,” said Matt, 36, who took over from his dad in 2025.
The 80-year-old garden centre has grown into a high street staple
A lot has changed in the area over the years. Harvey’s Cycles, a beloved bike shop, shut its doors after 79 years, and in recent years, more and more shops have given way to off-licences, charity shops and nail salons.
It has not always been smooth sailing for the store, which competes with the bigger garden centres and is feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis and the conflicts in the Middle East.
Matt said: “We are in a very affluent area, it’s hit us slower than it’s hit other people, but particularly with things like the price of carriage rising due to Iran blocking the strait.
“I’ve got a friend in Scotland, who is being charged £75 a trolley extra on delivery, and I expect to see prices of fertiliser rising, which then drives prices of everything else up.”
Yet, the store remains as popular as ever, with customers travelling all the way from London and France to buy plants from the shop.
Matt believes the fact that the staff – some of which have been working at the shop for over two decades – know what they are talking about and how they treat their customers, that is the secret to the shop staying put.
Matt Stenner (above) is currently experimenting with rare chillies from Peru
“Everyone has their strength. I absolutely love the science behind it myself, and I grow some quite rare chillies,” he said.
Matt grew up helping in the shop after school and remembered standing in his grandfather’s garden and seeing flowers he had grown tower over him.
“I’d like to give other families a chance to experience that. It’s always nice when families come with a kid that’s interested, to help spark that curiosity in them.”
The shop attracts customers from far beyond the Bristol suburb
He added: “We have a very good relationship with our customers because we treat them as people, every Christmas we get people bringing us in boxes of chocolates.
“I had an easter egg from a customer, and it is all because we don’t see them as a number to be fleeced. Be honest to them, be good to them, and they’ll be good back to you.”
During the pandemic, the neighbourhood rallied around the shop as it could only look after plants and send out deliveries, with customers offering money to help keep them going and volunteering to help out where they could.
“The generosity was outstanding; we wouldn’t be here today without the community,” Matt said.
All photos: Jack Davies
Read next:
Our newsletters emailed directly to you
