Rooted in Harmondsworth
Ansell Garden Centre has stood just north of Heathrow Airport for over 25 years, an independent, family-run business built on good plants, fair prices and proper advice.
It's the kind of place where the faces stay the same: many of our team have been here since the very beginning, and they know this site, and their plants, inside out.
A quarter-century, and counting
The doors open
A family with a love of growing sets up on Holloway Lane, Harmondsworth. From the start, the idea is simple, be the friendly, well-stocked, independent garden centre that west London actually needs.
Putting down roots
Season after season the centre grows, more plants, more range, more regulars. A loyal team forms, some of whom are still with us today, and Ansell becomes a fixture of the local community.
The fire
Just after 4:30pm, a large fire broke out at the centre, sending plumes of smoke drifting across west London. Around 100 firefighters tackled the blaze, and a 300-metre cordon was put in place after crews discovered gas cylinders and fireworks on site.
“Quick-thinking firefighters were able to drag the majority of the cylinders away from the fire, which prevented a possible explosion.”
London Fire Brigade station manager, 2016Thanks to the brigade's response, Heathrow's flights were unaffected and, most importantly, no one was injured. But for a small family business, the damage was devastating.
Rebuilt, from the ground up
Rather than walk away, the family rebuilt. With the support of the local community and a team that refused to give up, Ansell rose again on the same spot, better laid out, better stocked, and as independent as ever.
A new chapter, the same values
In 2025 the garden centre passed into new hands, a new family at the helm, but one that runs it with exactly the same ethics and care that built it. Today, Ansell is part of a wider growing family: our online plant shop grohplants.com brings our plants to gardeners across the country, while our wholesale nursery grows a wide range of British-grown varieties for the trade.
A new family, the same heart
Ansell is run today by a new family, but the principles haven't changed since day one. From a single garden centre near Heathrow to an online shop and a wholesale nursery in Devon, we keep growing without losing what made the place special.
Good plants, honestly priced, from people who genuinely love what they grow.