Staff return to Doncaster garden centre as plans drawn up to re-open

Tickhill residents who passed the Cherry Lane garden centre yesterday told the Free Press they had been surprised to see the car park full at the site on Bawtry Road, and had heard it opened from 10am until 1pm.

One said: “I went to get some shopping and it looked like there were about 25 cars in the car park, but my understanding was that garden centre cannot re-open yet. It just looked like a normal day.”

Karl Ottolangui, group operations director at QD Group, the chain which runs the site, said the centre was open yesterday – but just for staff members.

He said: “We opened our garden centre at Tickhill yesterday to staff members.

“We are working in the background on our plan to re-open.”

The garden centre has not been open since lockdown began in March.

It is among many Doncaster businesses looking at how to re-open when they can.

The fish and chips chain Whitby's has revealed plans to re-open its site off Leger Way in Doncaster.

It says following Public Health England guidance, systems have been introduced to allow the takeaways to re-open on Tuesday, May 5, from 12-7.30pm, seven days a week.

DIY chain Wickes recently re-opened some stores with social distancing measures

But Damian Allen, Doncaster Council chief executive, has warned Doncaster’s economy will not be able to be ‘switched back on’ to pre-pandemic times and some business sectors could ‘take years’ to fully recover.