Fryer's Roses was established in 1912. They carry the largest selection of roses in the North of England and are open all week and weekends throughout the year. From July to September, the Rose Fields are open for viewing until 9 o'clock in the evening. There is a restaurant which serves breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea.
In 1999,
Fryer's Roses received The Queen Mother's International Rose Award. This award was established by
The Royal National Rose Society and recognises outstanding achievements in the raising of new rose cultivars.
Fryer's is since 2011 part of the Blue Diamond Group of Garden Centres.
[From the American Rose Annual 1950, p. 187:] Fryer's Nurseries, Ltd., Knutsford, Cheshire, England.
1952 The Rose Annual, UK
p140. The A50 highway in Cheshire goes via Knutsford, old world township legendary named from King Canute and the Cranford of Mrs. Gaskell's famous novel. It is also the home of Fryer's Rose Nurseries....A visit to the father and two sons, Mr. Arthur, the senior, Arthur W. and Frank,who now comprise the partners of the firm......Fryer's took its roots from Joseph Fryer, a greengrocer of Knutsford, in the late eighties, whose love of market gardening led to flowers. His son, Arthur, now senior partner, well remembers his own first job of budding 'Kaiserin Augusta Victoria' and 'Margaret Dickson' at the age of thirteen years. In 1912 Arthur Fryer started with an acre plot that is now one of Cheshire's leading rose nurseries. Today he and his two sons have thirty acres with half-million Roses managed undwr an ideal arrangement of one son on the place and one doing the round of big shows,...
Photo: Arthur Fryer, Frank Fryer and Arthur Fryer Jnr.
Source: Fryer's Roses/Fryer's Nurseries Ltd.
Fryer’s Garden Centre in Manchester Road has been bought out by the Blue Diamond Group in Guernsey after being run by three generations of the Fryer family. It is understood that Gareth Fryer retired on October 7, 2011 on the same day that the deal was finalised. Fryer’s was established by Arthur Fryer in 1912 and Gareth joined the company, aged 19, in 1967.
Source: Fryer's Roses/Fryer's Nurseries Ltd.
Gareth Fryer, managing director of Fryer’s Garden Centre, whose grandfather Arthur, a rose grower, founded the business in 1912, said: “We started looking at succession planning and I wanted to find the right partner to take over our family firm.....Arthur Fryer’s sons Frank and John joined the business in 1945 and by the late 1950’s it was growing 750,000 rose plants every year and selling them to retail outlets throughout the country. Gareth Fryer joined the family firm in 1966 and he developed the business further into international markets. In early 1970, he saw the opportunity to open a garden centre to supply direct to the public.
Joseph Fryer (greengrocer in the 1880s)
Arthur Fryer (son of Joseph) (c1878-....)
Arthur W. Fryer (son of Arthur)
Frank Fryer (son of Arthur)
Gareth Fryer (1948-....)
