Bury in Bloom- Northgate Roundabout

Bury in Bloom has been taking place since 1986, and “is your local campaign dedicated to promoting a greener, cleaner and a more beautiful Bury St Edmunds”.

For our part, Hazells have sponsored Northgate Roundabout via Bury in Bloom, which has a large amount of history behind it.Built in 1973, Northgate Roundabout was associated with the re-routing of what was the A45, which is now known as the A14. It sits at the end of Northgate Street, where it joins Etna Road, Fornham Road, Long Brackland, Cannon Street and Tayfen Road.

In order to compensate for the flow of traffic entering the town via junction no.43 (British Sugar), which Etna Road could not provide for, a new road and roundabout were built. However, for this to go ahead, it meant that a row of terraced houses known as Alexandra Cottages had to be demolished, along with a couple of local stores including Stebbing’s Bakery and Roy’s Chip shop, which provided “the best chips in town!”.

Upon closer inspection it is apparent that the roundabout, though circular, has a substantial dip in the middle of it, rather like a doughnut. It is here that a large walnut tree grows. This tree would have grown originally in the garden of Stebbing’s bakery, and once that was demolished the roundabout was constructed around it.

The dip in the roundabout prevents the build-up of soil around its trunk, and therefore allows the roots of the walnut tree to breathe.

Once the roundabout had been built, a number of London Plane trees were planted around the doughnut ring.Bury in Bloom, supported by Hazells, have started to introduce spring plants to the roundabout including crocuses, tete-a-tete daffodils and grape hyacinths.

We are hoping to extend this selection later on in the year with more plantings.