Interview: York Christmas tree producer champions sustainability amid ‘tree-mendous’ growth

On Day 8 of Bdaily’s 12 Days of Christmas, we hear from Stephen Wombwell, owner of historic Christmas tree producer Newburgh Priory Estate. Following a “record-breaking” year for the Yorkshire business in 2021, Stephen reflects on past successes and looks ahead to the future of the industry. Read on to find out more…

Can you break down the renewed success of the business last year?

The success of the business in 2022 really revolved around staying committed to our key principles. Whether it is part of the wholesale business or retail element our aim has been to provide our wonderful customers with the freshest, best quality Christmas trees we can.

We continue to adapt to the markets to ensure that we can offer the widest range of types and sizes of trees, both of the cut variety and increasingly popular pot grown ones. Through exacting standards and the continued use of the latest advances in mechanisation we bring the best trees to the market in the most sustainable way at the best price we can.

What did last year’s success mean in terms of the approach to harvesting and sales this year?

Last year’s success simply allowed us to carry on operating as we have for the last several years. We were able to reinvest and purchase equipment that facilitates further growth of the business allowing us to expand our wholesale harvest to over 20,000 trees.

This mechanisation also allows us to speed up the operation which means there is less delay between harvesting the trees and them being in retail outlets thus ensuring freshness and quality. As far as the retail element goes we simply continue to provide the best quality trees at reasonable prices.

How are you navigating the current difficulties with rising prices and supply chain issues?

Rising prices across the board and supply chain issues are causing problems for anyone with a business and we are no different. We have seen a 25-30 per cent increase in our costs across the business with haulage and labour costs creating the biggest increases.

We have tried to mitigate these costs being passed onto our wholesale and retail customers as much as possible although we have had to pass on 10-12 per cent or risk the financial viability of the business and the valuable jobs it creates in the community.

Supply chain issues have simply meant that we need to be more organised than ever and be able to improvise should materials be unavailable.

When it comes to decorating your tree, do you prefer co-ordination or the ‘kitchen sink’ approach?

As far as decorating a Christmas tree there is no right answer but I have to admit we actually have two. One is decorated by the children and myself and definitely merits the term “throw the kitchen sink at it”. The second tree is the hallowed preserve of my wife Alice and she gets to decorate it how she would like it.

Are there any plans in place as to how you’ll be approaching 2023?

Plans for 2023 will develop over the next few months as we pause and take stock after what has been an incredibly long and hard harvest in some terribly inclement weather.

With our wholesale numbers stabilising and a hopefully stronger than ever retail performance we will continue to look as to how we can offer our customers more options and choices as well as just doing the simple things well.

One thing is certain next Christmas there will be plenty of beautiful fresh trees available from Newburgh Christmas Trees and we look forward to seeing all our friendly customers again!

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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