Garden centre stops Sunday trade

A garden centre in West Sussex has started a campaign to keep Sundays special after deciding not to open for the sake of families of the staff.

Between them staff at family-run Russells Garden Centre in Birdham, near Chichester, have 32 children and six grandchildren.

Owners Lesley and Richard Phillips, who have young children, said they wanted to maintain a work/life balance.

"The support of our customers has been phenomenal," said Mrs Phillips.

Old-fashioned values

The couple said they understood the difficulties of working on Sundays when childcare was impossible to find.

They said they wanted a return to traditional family Sundays even though their accountants thought they were "mad".

"Sunday was our busiest day. In the restaurant alone we were serving over 200 people, it was really mad," said Mrs Phillips.

"Everybody is behind us, saying they wish they could go back to a time where everybody had Sundays off and spent time together."

The couple are putting together a petition supporting Sunday closing, which they intend to send to their MP.