Deck the halls and celebrate the start of the festive season with London’s best Christmas tree retailers
Words Joy Montgomery
Christmas Tree Tidings
CAMDEN GARDEN CENTRE
To find Christmas trees with a conscience, head to Camden Garden Centre. Set up as a charitable foundation, the centre offers employment and training to disadvantaged Londoners. From the end of November every year, Camden Garden Centre is full of the finest Christmas trees from tabletop size to five metres tall. Order your tree online at their special Christmas tree website: christmastreesdelivered.co.uk.
PINES AND NEEDLES
Pines and Needles was founded by Josh and Sam Lyle back in 1995. It started when the brothers came up with the brainwave of loading an old horsebox with Christmas trees from their family farm in Scotland. They then took them down to London to sell. In 2016, the company hit the headlines for supplying a tree to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the first time the couple had been seen in public.
COLUMBIA ROAD FLOWER MARKET
If you want to soak up a bit of London history as you browse for the right tree then head down to Columbia Road Flower Market. Open every Sunday 8 am until 3 pm, Columbia Road is in the East End, sitting on the edge of the city. Don’t miss Christmas Wednesdays – for four Wednesday evenings before Christmas Day the shops will be open from 5pm to 9pm.
THE CHRISTMAS FOREST
One of London’s favourite independent retailers of real Christmas trees, The Christmas Forest was founded in 1998 on a small site in Richmond. With ten stores and an online service, they remain a family business committed to providing real, sustainable Christmas trees.
GOOD ELF
Set up in 2004, Good Elf was set up to deliver Christmas trees without the hassle. Available to a wide range of London neighbourhoods, the business has sourced the best British growers, created a short list of the best types of tree for the home and built the infrastructure to deliver thousands of trees over the Christmas period.
