At 5 a.m., London’s New Covent Garden Market is already alive with activity. Bright lights illuminate endless rows of blooms—Italian ranunculus, Dutch tulips, eucalyptus, and English ivy. As the United Kingdom’s largest flower market, it generates $50 million in annual sales, rooted in a history dating back to the 17th century.
Luke Gilbert of Green and Bloom has been awake since midnight, waiting for deliveries from across Europe. “You never get used to it. Doesn’t really get any easier,” he admits. His strategy is to buy quickly and remain flexible, often unaware of exact prices until last-minute auctions in Holland. If costs soar unexpectedly, customers simply refuse to buy.
Brexit has added another layer of uncertainty. New border checks and increased paperwork have delayed shipments, with projected costs reaching hundreds of millions of dollars annually for British businesses. “It’s affected delivery times,” Gilbert explains. “There’s a lot more paperwork they have to go through.”
Paul Fairhead from Evergreen Exterior Services, whose family has been in the flower business for generations, feels the strain. “The government’s new checks at Sevington mean trucks get stopped at 3 a.m., but staff don’t start work until 8 a.m. That’s a five-hour delay,” he says. “We close at 10 a.m., so we lose the day’s sales.”
Despite these challenges, florists like Natalie Keller remain optimistic. Browsing for vibrant tulips to brighten her bouquets, she shares her routine: “I’m back at the store by 9 a.m., preparing and conditioning flowers for display.”
Some florists even get creative with color. Wedding specialist Susie Ball from Peckham Rye reveals a trick: painting hydrangeas to achieve the perfect hue when they’re out of season.
For traders at New Covent Garden Market, long nights and early mornings are the norm. Yet, in a post-Brexit landscape, navigating supply chain disruptions has become as essential as the flowers they sell.
