About Us

The Langlands Story

What now is a small chain of friendly garden centres across Yorkshire once began with one man and his passion from Bingley.

After the Second World War, a young Walter Ducker took employment with a mill owner in Bingley, a thriving market town near Bradford in West Yorkshire.

During his time there, Walter honed his keen interest in horticulture and was encouraged by those around him to set up a small nursery.

He was given the opportunity to establish his trade using space kindly put aside for him at the mill owner's own home, which just happened to be named "Langlands".

Walter, and his Prize-Winning Dahlias

By this point, Walter had already built a strong reputation for his prize-winning dahlias; naturally, they formed the initial focus of his enterprise.

This fledgling business gradually built its success upon Walter's passion, skill, and ever-expanding local acclaim. Eventually, the mill owner retired, and Walter grasped the opportunity to expand his business with both hands. "Langlands Nursery", as it was, packed up and moved in 1964, quickly re-establishing itself on a quiet little road between Market Weighton and York.

Walter's sons, Robert and John

The legacy of Walter's business still lingers in Bingley however, in the form of "Langland's Road", which is now occupied by domestic properties.

Langlands broadened its reputation throughout the North of England, participating in a variety of flower shows with their fabulous displays of home-grown, award-winning chrysanthemums, fuchsias, and of course, Walter's beloved dahlias taking pride in place.

Walter's sons, Robert and John, naturally gravitated towards the family business at a young age, following in their father's footsteps and inspired by his personal achievements.

They helped to move the Langlands brand from strength to strength; delivering fresh-cut Langland’s flowers to markets in their distinctive vans, constructing show stands to display their accomplishments, and helping Walter to cultivate his stock until the day came when they were to take over management of the family business.

The next stage of the Langlands History

In the early 1990's Robert & his beloved wife Janet were going to Shrewsbury Flower Show with James, their son. During the journey to the show, after many hours loading the van, they chatted about how great it would be if they could get the public to come to them. It was luck that Walter had bought the site on the main road between Hull & York. He had originally bought this not with the intention of retail, but for growing. It was just pure luck that he had bought the site which is in such a good location for retail.

At the flower show, they were the proud winners of the top accolade - Best In Show. James has fond memories of attending this show, and the fireworks display afterward has inspired the Langlands Fireworks events that now occur annually.

Growing up, James spent most of his school holidays going to flower shows and traveling around the country.

"It was an amazing experience and I have such fond memories of this time. It may have been an unusual childhood, but I wouldn't change it for the world!"

James' children are now growing up and are becoming interested in being involved in the business.

Beautiful blooms, homegrown under Yorkshire skies

Our green-fingered nursery staff produces over a quarter of a million plants each year, giving our customers the unique chance to buy fresh, home-grown plants from our greenhouses, while also having the opportunity to chat directly with the people that grew them!

Furthering our retail aspirations, Langlands introduced a popular and now well-established Giftware Department, a Farm Shop, two award-winning eating outlets, a Coffee Shop, and a Cafe Bar at the site in Shiptonthorpe. These offer quality, wholesome, home-cooked meals made with exceptional, locally sourced ingredients. In addition, our catering, and events design services are enjoying the well-deserved popularity thanks to the dedication and diligence of our whole team.

The Ducker Family- bringing you the best and brightest of Britain's blooms since 1964

In recent years, Langlands expanded the business even further, purchasing established garden centres in both Whinmoor (Leeds) and Loxley (Sheffield), plus a brand new 14-acre growing site in Holme-Upon-Spalding Moor. Taking over management, rebuilding, and expanding these sites has been another great success in a long list of accolades; Langlands now have three well-known sites in Yorkshire, and continue to build upon the outstanding reputation.

Langlands Whinmoor and Langlands Loxley have quickly capitalised on the popularity of the Langlands brand. Each has its own unique, award-winning catering establishments and hosts other features and departments unique to each garden centre. Please visit their pages for more information.

Don't forget that you can now also keep track of all of our news, events and exclusive Loyalty Card offers through our social media posts! Just look for us on Facebook, you'll find us in no time!

On a final note, we'd like to say Thank You to our customers and our community for choosing to support us. Without our brilliant staff and our loyal customers, new and old, our success wouldn't be possible.

Our motto says it all, really:

Langlands – More Than Just a Garden Centre.