The Beginning: 1910-1920's

The seeds of our success story were sown in America in 1910 when a couple of enterprising florists had the idea of telegraphing orders to each other from opposite sides of the country. 
They hoped that by doing so they would no longer have to rely on trains to send flowers to far-away recipients. 

Back then, lengthy transit times made sending flowers to friends and relatives in distant states almost impossible. The flowers simply could not survive the long journey.

Soon, independent florists all over America were telegraphing and telephoning orders to each other using the Interflora service. They found that by coming together they were able to make the seemingly impossible, possible. 

For the first time, beautiful bouquets could be made and personally hand-delivered anywhere in the country within a day. The idea revolutionised the way flowers could be sent, meaning that customers could now mark special occasions from afar.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't long before florists outside of the US wanted to get in on the action. In the UK, a nursery owner from Essex and a florist in Glasgow were the first to bring the concept to the other side of the Atlantic and on 30th May 1923 Interflora British Unit was born.

Within a couple of years, we were delivering beautiful floral gifts across the full length and breadth of the UK and even exhibiting at the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Our very first exhibit was visited by the King and Queen and included a number of beautiful floral arrangements, as well as a painting on canvas of our newest recruit - the Mercury Man. The Roman messenger god has been our world-famous emblem since 1914. Encapsulating fast delivery and excellent service, our Mercury Man emblem still gives customers those same reassurances today.

The War Years 1930-1940's

The 1930s and 1940s took a heavy toll on the floristry industry, but we were determined that Interflora would survive and resolved to support our florists through the hard times. Although a huge number of our florists were called up to enrol in the forces, those left behind found that the war years on the British high street were a peculiar mix of hardship on the one hand and prosperity on the other.

The biggest problem facing our florists was the availability of flowers. To help the war effort, all land had been given over to food production which meant that far fewer flowers were being grown.

Added to that, restrictions on petrol and post made it difficult to get flowers from the fields to the shop floor, let alone to the recipient's doorstep. Because of their dwindling numbers flowers became increasingly hard-to-come-by and began to be seen as something of a luxury - but they were a luxury that many people wanted to hold onto.

Becoming "the Flower Experts" in 1950s

Although we survived the war the reality was that the art of floristry had suffered greatly. The enormous loss of life had meant a significant loss of talent. Many of our remaining florist shops had fallen into new hands and were being run by inexperienced, albeit enthusiastic, florists. 

Concerned that the new florists in our network may be falling short of the exceptional standards we championed, we arranged for a talented florist to be flown over from the US to share his expertise and superior design skills.

From here on, training and demonstrating became an integral part of our identity. Even today we hold regular floristry competitions to ensure that our florists remain at the forefront of floristry design. Indeed, the brilliant creative skills and extensive knowledge of all our florists gives us license to be recognised as 'The Flower Experts'.

By the end of the 1950's the hard work had all paid off. Interflora had become a byword for excellence and expertise in floristry and was really flourishing both at home and abroad.

In fact, the success was such that we had to introduce our very own currency - the Fleurin - to simplify currency calculations when sending orders abroad. 

Fifty Years of Flower Power 1960-1970s

In the sixties flowers became more fashionable than ever. As flower power swept the nation, our florists up and down the country were bringing bold designs and high-fashion flowers to the high street. As the decade wore on, flowers gained a new importance as a symbol for peaceful opposition to war in Vietnam.

We enjoyed a big occasion of our own in the seventies. 1973 marked our fiftieth anniversary, and we celebrated with a jubilee lunch at London's Cafe Royal. The venue itself was carefully chosen - fifty years earlier it had been here that our founder members held their very first meeting. And in honour of the occasion, we even served the same lunch menu - steak and kidney pudding.

In amongst all the nostalgia, our fiftieth year was as much a time for looking forward. Our celebrations brought together - for the very first time - Interflora florists from all over the world. Showcasing our incredibly diverse network, florists attended from Africa, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany and New Zealand. It was a clear sign of just how successful we’d been in expanding around the world.

Success did bring with it problems of a different nature. For the first time, we faced the challenge of competing with new copy-cat flower delivery services.
A campaign was devised to remind customers that 'only the best florists belong' to Interflora. We knew that to hold our position as market leaders, we’d have to go that extra mile for our customers.

Interflora Reaches Out 1980-1990s

Throughout the eighties and nineties, the iconic Interflora bus could be seen touring all over the country. 
We'd stop off at flower shows and country fairs to give floral demonstrations and let people see our talented florists at work. 

By this time ordering flowers by phone was commonplace. The introduction of the credit card had made sending flowers even easier and we had orders coming in from far and wide.

In fact in 1991, we received our first order from outer space! Britain's first astronaut, Helen Sharman sent an order for flowers to be delivered to her mother from the Mir space station. Just imagine how Helen's mum must have felt when we delivered them into her arms.

Interflora went on to sponsor all sorts of events throughout the nineties. From figure skating, to athletics, to the Commonwealth Games: the Interflora name was seen all over the world. In 1992, we even sponsored F1 racing driver Nigel Mansell, who went on to win the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was a proud day for British sports fans - and for us too.

Our Story Continues... 2000-Present

Today, we are proud to be one of the world's most recognised brands. 8 out of 10 people think of us when wondering who to trust to deliver good wishes on their behalf.

We're active on the part of others too. Since 2005 we've raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for Breast Cancer Care. We are also continuing to support British farmers and good causes such as Fairtrade. And we continue to be recognised as leaders in floral design. As well as winning gold medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, many of our florists are award winners in their own right.

Every two years we recognise excellence in our network through our Florist of the Year and Florist of the Future awards and to make the most of our florists' expertise, we've recently launched our Luxury range as well as a Designed to Order service.

As we celebrate our 90th birthday, we've freshened things up with a new look. Our distinctive black and gold Mercury logo celebrates where we've come from, but looks to the future too.Today our UK network includes more than 1,800 expert florists across the UK and Ireland - each one with their own history and unique story to tell.

Every day, every one of our florists uses their creative skills and personal touch to create the most beautiful floral gifts. It's their passion for excellence that ensures ours is a success story that will continue for years to come...