'Very few people would consider buying a cemetery'

A business owner from Stoke-on-Trent has bought a private cemetery in the city.

The Garden of Remembrance in Longton had been on the market for just under £1m.

It has been purchased by Richard Evans, who owns local companies including Nettlebank Memorials Limited in Smallthorne.

"There's very few people in the country that would consider buying a cemetery, but if you've been in business for over 75 years supplying memorial headstones, we're a logical choice," said Mr Evans.

The site on Spring Garden Road was established in 2005, and has about 700 graves, with room for at least the same number again.

It sits alongside Stoke-on-Trent City Council owned Longton Cemetery, which Mr Evans said was "absolutely full" for new internments.

"People who live in Longton and surrounding areas tend to want to stop in Longton, and this is a good alternative to council-run cemeteries," he said, describing the local authority's sites as "superb, but with strict rules."

The Garden of Remembrance had attracted "some bad press," after the previous operator installed electric gates, with people asked to buy a £5 "VIP pass" to visit loved-ones' graves outside of office opening hours.

"They were a very good idea for security," said Mr Evans, explaining that people on drink and drugs used to go onto the site to search for bottles of alcohol that some families left on their relative's graves.

The passes would still be needed for the gates, he stated, "but we won't be charging for them".

The business owner now aims to utilise the name of his well-established gravestone manufacturing firm to change some people's perception of the cemetery.

"Nettlebank has been going for 75 years," he said, "what we need to do is use that history to make this the place the place you would want, and need, to be."

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