Flowers for sale at Liverpool Street Station
(Picture: Evening Standard)A florist charging up to £385 for a bouquet of Valentine’s Day roses has caught the attention of commuters passing through the upper concourse of Liverpool Street Station.
The flowers sparked an animated debate when a picture of the roses in question was uploaded to Reddit. One user commented: “I showed my Mrs and she said ‘if you buy those I will leave you on principle’.”
Another person said: “With the same amount of money you can: enjoy an incredible dinner, get a beautiful gift, get a flight ticket or a hotel stay somewhere, get an experience for both to enjoy.”
However, some users did defend the price tag. One person said: “It’s an offer of high end flowers in peak demand season. It’s not extortion - they’re not trying to force you to buy them.”
Writing for the Evening Standard, Melanie McDonagh argued that we should end our Valentine’s Day obsession with buying overpriced roses. She said that, as roses are not in season in the UK, florists often have to ship in the flowers from around the world, and the result leaves little to be desired.
Melanie wrote: “The flown-in red rose is a beastly thing. It’s long-stemmed, usually in buds which never quite flower, and scentless. That’s because in some varieties the scent has been bred out of them, privileging longevity over fragrance.”
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