Have you ever wondered how it would be to work as a florist? In a new article series, Florismart gives you a peek in the life of a florist. This week’s article features London florist Mark Welford who runs his shop Bloomsbury Flowers together with his long-time friend Stephen.
"Stephen and I opened Bloomsbury Flowers 23 years ago after retiring as dancers with the Royal Ballet Companies. We met at White Lodge, the Royal Ballet School in Richmond Park, in the 1970s and have been friends ever since.
"There is hardly ever an average day here in our shop in Covent Garden. Which is located close to the Royal Opera House where we both danced many times throughout our careers. When we opened the shop in December 1994, Great Queen Street was a very quiet street with hardly any walk-in trade so we quickly had to rely on picking up contract work to create a regular income.
"One of our biggest clients is Firmdale Hotels and we have been working with them for nearly 19 years. We furnish their 8 hotels throughout London with fresh flowers and plants which means that every weekday, we are either installing fresh arrangements in a hotel, doing maintenance visits or delivering event/wedding flowers to any of the hotels. A number of the suites in the hotels have fresh flowers so they are changed twice weekly. It certainly keeps us on our toes! No pun intended…
"Of course, we cater for all occasions so our shop is a busy one on a daily basis with a range of orders coming in from straightforward hand-ties, wedding work and events of all different sizes ranging from corporate dinners to product launches. Mondays are one of our busiest days so I’m going to give you an insight into my Monday!"