Inside Cheadle’s Florist Wedding & Craft Supplies, Where Everyone Can Shop at Wholesale Prices

Behind the green gates on Draycott Cross Road, Florist Wedding & Craft Supplies has grown from a home eBay shop selling pins and ribbon into a 3,000 line warehouse offering wholesale prices to the public, fresh flowers from Holland and supplies for weddings, floristry, crafts and more.

Paid advertorial

It started with a walk to the sorting office. Now Florist Wedding & Craft Supplies is where Staffordshire's florists, crafters and DIY brides go for wholesale prices, no trade account required.

Drive half a mile up Draycott Cross Road from the Huntsman pub, turn through the green gates opposite JCB Finance, and you'll find one of Cheadle's best kept secrets. Behind the doors of Unit 8, New Haden Works sits a floristry warehouse with more than 3,000 lines, fresh flowers landing from Holland three times a week, and a team who would very much like you to stop paying high street prices for your pumpkins.

The story behind it goes back a lot further than the building. Owner Jason started out in 1986, wholesaling fresh flowers on Derby's flower market. In 2004 he moved to Staffordshire and teamed up with Clare, and together they launched Flower Nation, a fresh flower wholesaler delivering as far as Crewe, Stafford, Leek, Derby and Bakewell.

It did well, until 2011, when a large Dutch flower company arrived with very deep pockets and surrounded them on all sides. Flower Nation closed. It was a sad time, but Jason and Clare were determined to come back with something better, and this time, something a big wholesaler couldn't simply squash.

That something started in 2014 as a small eBay shop run from home, selling packs of pins and ribbon. In the early days, the entire dispatch department consisted of a daily walk to Cheadle sorting office. Prices were so competitive that larger customers soon came knocking, and by 2015 the business had moved into a small unit at Blythe Business Park, in the old colour works at Cresswell. In June 2018 it moved again, to its current home at New Haden Works, and the range has grown every year since.

Today it's a warehouse open to members of the public aged 18 and over, offering wholesale prices to anyone with a project in mind, whether that's a wedding, a funeral tribute, a prom corsage, a seasonal wreath, or simply a kitchen table that deserves better than a petrol station bunch.

Much more than a florist's

Under one roof you'll find fresh flowers, artificial stems, ribbons, candles, gift boxes and baskets, plants, gardening supplies and craft materials, so it's just as useful to gardeners and hobby crafters as it is to professional florists. There are even gifts for pets, which is not something most people expect from a florist's. The team handle funeral and memorial work, and they're DIY bride specialists too: pick out your own flowers and they can make them up for you, usually by appointment, though they've been known to rise to the occasion on the spur of the moment.

The whole point, as Jason and Clare see it, is that you shouldn't need a trade account to pay trade prices. New memberships are processed on the day, so you can walk in, sign up and start shopping. And if you'd rather browse before you travel, the full catalogue and prices are online.

Not sure where to start? Book a floristry lesson with one of the in-house florists. Sessions are charged by the hour, from £25 plus VAT for one person, and the more of you who come, the better value it gets. Bring a friend, blame them if it goes wrong.

Rooted in the community

FWCS puts plenty back into its home patch. The business sponsors Cheadle Town under 7s football team, Cheadle in Bloom and the town's car boot sale, dresses the gateway to Cheadle by the Huntsman pub, and pays for the hanging baskets there and at Greet Wood Community Hall in Upper Tean. Volunteers from Equal Base in Cheadle join the team each week for work experience, and the business supplied the artificial bouquets for the town's brand new bridal shop.

Plan your visit

Florist Wedding & Craft Supplies, Unit 8, New Haden Works, Draycott Cross Road, Cheadle ST10 2NP. Open seven days: Monday to Saturday 7.30am to 4pm, Sunday 10am to 4pm. Membership is for over 18s, so please bring photo ID. Browse the catalogue before you travel at www.floristweddingcraftsupplies.co.uk or call 01538 751678.

This is a paid advertorial feature, produced in partnership with Florist Wedding & Craft Supplies

Why the Signal exists

Real news takes time. Thanks for taking yours.

You've just read a story that took time to get right. No clickbait, no racing to be first, no ads chasing you down the page.

I started The Staffordshire Signal because I got fed up of local news that chased clicks instead of stories. We're independent, not-for-profit, IMPRESS-regulated and owned right here, so we answer to nobody but you.

The honest bit: local news only survives if local people choose it. If we don't, it goes.

Jenna GoodwinFounder and Editor, The Staffordshire Signal

Love what we do?

Buy us an oatcake! Cheese and bacon, if you're feeling generous. Every tip goes straight into local reporting.

Buy us an oatcake

Miss a proper paper?

Staffordshire's only regional printed magazine, full of stories worth sitting down with, delivered to your door.

Get it delivered

Follow on WhatsApp

Our stories, dropped straight into your phone. No group chat chaos, we promise.

Join the channel

What's On

Find something good to do this week

Markets, gigs, history talks and family days out across Staffordshire. Running an event? Add it to our guide and let the county know.

See what's on Add your event

For local businesses

Run a Staffordshire business?

Our readers keep the Signal going, and the businesses who advertise with us help keep it free for everyone. Reach people who read to the end, across our magazine, Signal Weekly, Signal TV and website.

Enquire about advertising