Petersham Nurseries is fundamentally connected to nature. It is at the essence of the business, from our horticultural roots, to the seasonality of our food. We encourage positive living through consideration of the environment and draw inspiration from its beauty.
We source responsibly across all departments, from the shop to the delicatessen, florist and restaurants, upholding consideration for provenance of the goods we sell and produce we use.
We garden organically offering sustainable alternatives to pest and disease control and grow our own organic cut flowers in our onsite cutting garden
In Richmond we benefit from having our own onsite ground water source which feeds the irrigation and hoses at the nursery and keep the plants happily watered in the warmer months.
We recycle the yew trees that border our Richmond site with The Friendship Estate, which in turn supports cancer research.
Natural light to us is key. At Richmond we are predominately open during the day, flooded by natural light across the site and in our greenhouses, whilst in Covent Garden we are privileged to have a beautiful central Court Yard, bringing natural light into an inner-city location.
Petersham Nurseries is proudly local, homegrown and part of the surrounding community. We care about our staff, who have become an extended family, whilst maintaining strong relationships with neighbours and treating customers the way we would treat guests in our own home. We support various charities and initiatives, both locally and abroad.
Since opening in 2004 Petersham Nurseries has been supporting an extensive variety of charities and initiatives, both locally and abroad.
In 2013 Managing Directory Lara Boglione launched the Petersham Platform, with a talk by Patrick Holden of the Sustainable Food Trust and formerly Director of the Soil Association.
Petersham Platform is a space for discussion, education and expression. Engaging with the community of fellow thinkers on issues of sustainability, astronomy and agriculture. Other big names followed: environmentalist capitalist organic farmer Joel Salatin, founder and director of the International Society for Ecology and Culture Helena Norberg-Hodge, environmental activist and editor of Resurgence magazine Satish Kumar, Carlo Petrini from Slow Food.
We embrace the principles of slow living. Our buyers and chefs are respectful of the heritage of the produce they work with, sourcing locally and always with seasonality in mind. Having a minimal impact on the environment is central to each decision made, from reducing waste to thoughtful recycling.
From our own organic farm ‘Haye Farm Devon’ to supporting organisations such as Marina Conservation Society and Farms not Factories, our buyers and chefs are respectful of the produce they source and work with, appreciating its exceptional quality.
We are a member of the Sustainable Restaurant Association and have been awarded the highest accreditation as a leader in sustainability for four years in a row. In 2017 we received the ‘Food Made Good’ prize for Serving More Veg and Better Meat. In 2018 we were shortlisted for ‘Business of the Year’, ranking in the SRA’s top 20 most sustainable restaurants.
The Petersham Nurseries team enjoy sharing our knowledge and wisdom. Nurturing our staff and inviting them into the Petersham family. Nourishing relationships with customers and suppliers alike. We endeavour to keep learning – regularly sharing our wealth of experience through the School of Garden Inspiration and culinary workshops.
Employing locally where we can (in Richmond 70% of our 100 plus staff live locally). We are strong advocates of encouraging career progression by promoting from within, providing adequate training and by encouraging staff to try a new department or area of interest. We subsidise management courses, wine qualifications, horticultural learning and ensure regular appraisals take place to discuss career progression and opportunities.
Where possible, we also welcome work experience students from local schools, as well as annually inviting students from Capel Manor and Leith’s to visit with a view to offer first time employment. In the near future, we would like to pursue introducing Apprenticeships.
Stepping into the world of Petersham Nurseries is to experience something unique. A destination like no other which stretches boundaries in what is created, sourced and served. Exciting senses and provoking thought; a place of aspiration and inspiration.
We recycle nearly all our waste at Petersham Nurseries. Categorised by: food waste, coffee waste organic waste, glass, paper, industrial cardboard and mixed recycling.
At Richmond we have been separating waste for over 10 years, working alongside SRA approved Quantum Waste – a socially conscientious company that use lighter vehicles and collect in a local radius to use less fuel and lower carbon emissions. We extend this approach into our new Covent Garden site and with the media attention most recently on the harmful impacts of plastic, we hope to set a recycling precedence for other businesses.
We consider food waste to be of the upmost importance at Petersham Nurseries. We are completely committed to reducing food waste from our kitchens who prep utilising entire meat carcasses and every ounce of produce in their cooking.
We have recently introduced an aerobic food digester in Richmond and intend to introduce another at Covent Garden. The AFD odourlessly turns food waste into water, removing the need for waste bins and achieving a substantial reduction in our carbon footprint.
In early 2017 we took to separating our coffee waste and sending it to Bio-Bean, who turn it into biofuels. We then buy the biofuels back in the form of ‘coffee logs’ which we sell at Petersham.
“Our kitchens have replaced the traditional substitutes, for imitation greaseproof paper made from sustainable forest paper, 100% compostable and recyclable as well as swapping cling film for renewal, compostable bio- film.”
Lara Boglione
Managing Director, Petersham Nurseries
We recently enrolled Petersham Nurseries to Recorked, the UK’s leading natural wine cork recycling program. We donate our corks from all restaurants to Recorked who then resell or supply free corks to various charities and schools for use in craft projects. For every cork collected, they donate a percentage of their profit to nominated charities.
Our takeaway and Delicatessen packaging is 100% biodegradable. From compostable takeaway boxes made from recycled material with a compostable plant-based PLA window, to napkins made of recycled paper. We favour glass bottles for our homemade almond milk, whilst our smoothie and juice bottles are a post-consumer recycled plastic: the 500ml recycled bottles are made from your old soft drinks bottles, which can be fully recycled for a second time after use. Our salad deli pots are made from PLA, a bio-plastic, so too are our coffee/ tea lids making the disposable cup fully compostable. This year we introduce a reusable Petersham Nurseries coffee cup you can bring to store for your morning coffees.
A bio-plastic is a renewable resource as the plants re-grow at a rate that is comparable or faster than their rate of consumption. It goes without saying, you will only find paper straws across our restaurants, whilst any disposable cutlery (as used at our pop-up banqueting tent at Wilderness festival) is made from sustainable eco-friendly forest wood that is 100% compostable and biodegradable.
Our kitchens have replaced the traditional substitutes, for imitation greaseproof paper made from sustainable forest paper, 100% compostable and recyclable as well as swapping cling film for renewal, compostable bio- film.
In our shops and florist, all branded customer bags are 100% recycled paper (though we’d encourage customers to have their own reusable Petersham Nurseries canvas bag) and safeguard our products both in store and online with biodegradable bubble wrap.
Our chef jackets are made from recycled bottles and we look to continue sourcing sustainable uniforms for staff across the board.
We have been proactively returning plastic pots and produce crates to suppliers to reuse for other deliveries, plus offering to local allotments, whilst we have been giving away to customer the surplus plastic pots to reuse for growing their own seedlings.
We continue to research recycling companies who are able to recycle the black hard plastic containers and lobby to eradicate harmful landfill plastics.
