Green Growth Awards 2025
Royal Leamington Spa’s Sarah Horne Botanicals have just been announced as a
FINALIST FOR NEW GREEN GROWTH AWARDS
Local, award winning florist Sarah Horne Botanicals has made it to the final of the awards after impressing judges with their approach to driving growth through sustainability.
19th February 2025: Sarah Horne Botanicals of 86 Warwick Street Leamington Spa has been selected as a finalist for the first-ever ‘Green Growth Awards’, a new national competition recognising small businesses leading the way in embracing sustainability to innovate and drive business growth. Launched by Small Business Britain, in partnership with BT, the inaugural Green Growth Awards will award two sustainability grants of £5000 to two small businesses that have successfully boosted their bottom line by implementing sustainable initiatives. The grants will help provide additional funding for businesses to invest further in this area.
Sarah Horne Botanicals, founded in 1980 by Sarah Horne with her late mum Jenny, has made it to the final round of the awards after impressing judges with their commitment to green growth...quite literally!
The journey that the team has embarked on includes dramatically reducing their carbon footprint by growing as much of their fresh flower and foliage stock as possible in “cutting gardens” located less than a mile from the shop in Leamington Spa.
This allows them to offer their customers super fresh locally grown flowers and exciting new floral design classes. They are growing the usual favourites as well as beautiful, rare niche varieties not normally available at retail stores.
The cutting garden project has also led to them composting all of their green and cardboard waste.
On being named as a finalist, Sarah said: “The team and I are so excited by this project, we have worked really hard to test and establish our cutting gardens. Amy and I can often be seen walking down Warwick Street sporting wellies and waterproofs! We couldn’t be more thrilled to have reached the finals of these prestigious awards”.
“The Green Growth Awards recognise the outstanding small businesses that are not only leading the way in sustainability but are also using it to fuel innovation and growth,” says Michelle Ovens CBE, Founder of Small Business Britain.
“These businesses are proving that greener practices not only benefit the planet but also create real business success—whether through cost savings, waste reduction, or deeper customer engagement. Their passion and commitment are making a real impact on their communities and the economy.”
The nation’s 5.5m small businesses are estimated to represent half of the UK’s business emissions and the Green Growth Awards has been launched as part of Small Business Britain’s ongoing partnership with BT to empower UK small businesses to better understand their environmental impact and embrace more sustainable practices and growth opportunities.
“The Green Growth Awards shine a spotlight on the small businesses that are not only driving sustainability but also setting the standard for innovation and growth,” said Chris Sims, Chief Commercial Officer, UK Business, at BT.
“It’s truly inspiring to see how these businesses are leveraging sustainable practices to achieve real business success and create positive change in their communities. We’re really proud to support this initiative.”
BT is also a member of the Willow Review Steering Board; a new independent review aiming to underline the financial case for sustainability for small businesses, which has been spearheaded by Small Business Britain and is backed by the UK Government.
The winners of the Green Growth Awards will be announced at a special event at BT’s Headquarters in London on 11 March 2025.
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