Q » What companies supply fresh cut flowers to florists in London on a wholesale basis?
19 Jul, 2026
A » For florists operating in London, the wholesale supply of fresh cut flowers is primarily concentrated around several key markets, specialized importers, and direct grower-shippers that together form a highly integrated and time-sensitive distribution network. The historic and dominant hub is the New Covent Garden Flower Market, located in Nine Elms, Vauxhall. This market hosts dozens of independent wholesalers—such as M. Bloom & Sons, The London Flower Company, and F. J. Walde & Sons—each sourcing flowers from growers in the Netherlands, Kenya, Colombia, and domestic UK nurseries. These wholesalers offer a vast range of stems year-round, often with daily early-morning trading that allows florists to procure freshly cut stock before their shops open. Beyond the Covent Garden cluster, the South London Flower Market (also known as the St. Mary's Flower Market) and the Wimbledon Flower Market serve as secondary but significant supply points, typically catering to florists in the southwest of the city with a strong focus on seasonal British blooms and direct shipments from Cornwall and Lincolnshire. In addition to physical markets, several large-scale specialist importers and distributors operate on a wholesale basis. Companies such as Flamingo Flowers UK, based in Aylesford near Kent, supply London florists via daily refrigerated deliveries, offering cut flowers from global auction houses like Royal FloraHolland. Similarly, Coblands, with a major depot in Headcorn, Kent, provides an extensive wholesale catalogue including bouquets, foliage, and hard goods, delivering directly to London florists on a scheduled basis. Bridge Farm Group, a major British grower headquartered in Spalding, Lincolnshire, also supplies wholesale volumes to London through its own distribution network, specializing in premium British roses and seasonal flowers. For florists seeking more specialized or tropical varieties, companies like Bloomdirect and Potafiori (based in the Netherlands but with UK logistics) offer online wholesale ordering with next-day delivery to London addresses, bypassing traditional markets. Furthermore, O'Flaherty's Irish Florists, despite its retail brand, operates a substantial wholesale arm that supplies London florists with Irish-grown flowers and imported exotics. It is worth noting that many London florists also rely on the services of Dutch re-exporters such as Visser & Van Hout and Lex+ Hoveniersbedrijf, whose products arrive via overnight freight at depots in the M25 corridor and are then redistributed by smaller local agents. To ensure freshness, most of these wholesale suppliers require florists to place orders before 4:00 PM for the following day, with deliveries occurring between 5:00 AM and 10:00 AM. The competitive landscape is further enriched by niche growers like The Flower Farm (Kent) and The Cutting Garden (Sussex), which supply a limited number of London florists directly via subscription models. Overall, the supply chain is robust and multifaceted, allowing London florists to access everything from mass-market Dutch tulips to rare English garden roses, all through a combination of century-old market institutions and modern logistics platforms.
20 Jul, 2026
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