Battersea Flower Station sits tucked away behind a bus stop and in between two large advertising boards on Battersea Park Road.

But looks can be deceiving as the floral haven travels backwards in an alley style.

Opened in 2012 by Lisa and John it has become a local gem.

Lisa left her corporate job in advertising and put everything she had into the garden centre.

She partnered up with John who possesses an abundance of gardening knowledge.

"I wanted to get out of what I was doing and make something that was real, that mattered to people, that I was proud of and that my kids could be proud of," Lisa remarked.

It seems that the pair have managed to do just that, speaking to Battersea Nub News, Lisa proudly retells of the time the local priests referred to the Flower Station as the heart of the community.

John and Lisa searched high and low for a suitable space.

After four years of searching, Lisa signed the lease in a rush of excitement before John had even been to look himself.

It was an overgrown plot that had be uninhabited for 30 years.

In a full circle moment they would later find out it had been a flower shop 100 years prior.

"Hopefully when you come in it is such a surprise; it's peaceful, calm and pretty.

"I just hope we always try and do the right thing, we've got all different kinds of people who work here and apart from John, no one came here with skills of the trade.

"We hire people because they're nice and train them up.

"So I'm hoping people like it here." Lisa told us.

Restrictions during the first lockdown meant Lisa and John had to give away many of their plants, leaving them on the pavement outside the shop in order to give the plants a chance of surviving.

As it became clear that the lockdown would be lasting longer than initially expected, they began putting plants online for sale.

Lisa would go in during the evening to measure and photograph them for the website and quickly their online sales took off.

The rest of the Flower Station staff had been furloughed so they hired a local black cab driver who was out of work to carry out deliveries, along with a young professional who lived alone in Southbank and needed something to help his mental health.

However, when things began opening up in London the business was faced with more challenges as sales plummeted.

"We had the worst April to September in history," Lisa recalls.

However when Nub News visited it was evident how popular the Flower Station is.

With a florist, a card shop, multiple green houses for indoor and outdoor plants, plenty of pots and gardening tools plus Christmas trees, all your your green finger needs are answered.

Lisa believes lockdown encouraged a lot of young people to get into gardening: "The customer profile has completely changed, seven years ago the average age was 45 and now it's 25."

She puts this down to people being trapped inside during the pandemic and wanting to have a bit of nature in their home.

Lisa hopes that people will recognise the business as an honest one: "We try to do the right thing and I hope people appreciate that."

Got a story? Get in touch with Lexi Iles via [email protected] or call 07964789627

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