Elizabeth Blanck and Patricia Blank at Fitzroy’s Flowers

NOT every mother and daughter would survive three decades running an independent business together. Could you?

But Elizabeth Blanck and Patricia Blank are this week celebrating the 30 anniversary of opening Fitzroy’s Flowers in Primrose Hill in March 1994. And they said they had run the independent shop happily together without any major disputes and are still going strong today – despite what they see as the problems of parking restrictions and changing customer habits in the area.

Mrs Blanck – amazingly she married a man with an almost identical surname to her maiden name – said: “We’ve seen customers grow up here, get married and have kids. But when I think back to the beginning, well it was a very different time, the nineties. I used to go to market all the time, down to Covent Garden three or four times a week.

“It was much busier around here too. There is a cost of living crisis in Primrose Hill. People’s general spend has gone down. “There used to be more younger families that had more money to spend, but they have moved out because they want a bigger homes for their children. There’s a different demographic. People shop in a different way too I think – they don’t really come and have a browse around so much any more.”

She added: “There used to be so many lovely independent shops here. If you go out of London, that’s how it still is. Here, it’s amazing that we are an independent and lasting this long. It’s an achievement.” The shop is stocked with many flowers, many home grown, and also a popular new line in greeting cards. Mrs Blanck recalled how she had started the business with her mother after completing a degree in art history, adding: “I don’t think I thought it would last this long.”

Mrs Blank, who lives close to the shop, said: “Before this I was in the restaurant business. I ran a 250-seater restaurant in Greek Street, Soho, one in Knightsbridge also. Liz had finished uni and we always loved flowers. We just thought let’s have a go. It’s a wonderful shop, a lovely place to be.

“And there is no one lovelier than my daughter.”

She spoke at length about the parking restrictions in Primrose Hill which they believe has the effect of killing off trade in the high street and the council was not helping businesses, adding: “Before all that you would get ladies that lunch coming up here – people came not just to have a coffee, but also to buy things, have a meal and spend an afternoon here.”

Saka