Whitehall GC on line have it and list it as a modern rose this is what they say: - 'Modern Shrub - Rose 'Pure Abundance', 3L Deep Pot. This variety produces very fragrant pure white flowers throughout summer, above dark green foliage. Plant in any well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter in sun'.

Some catalogues say pure abundance when describing the flowers could the label be misleading you?

Thanks Drc726 for your reply, I have now found it but still cannot understand why it is not flowering. It is thornless which is great although there are tiny little hooks on the back of the leaves. It is strange that it has never had any flower I will leave it unpruned this year and see what happens, as they say it flowers abundantly all Summer through.

I found this in the Telegraph I hope this edited version helps you.
By Helen Yemm

Shrub-rose pruning is a minefield for the unwary and inexperienced
The term shrub rose is a vague one and refers to a multitude of varieties that are neither bush roses (hybrid teas and floribunda/multiclusters, the classic rose-bed roses) nor climbers nor ramblers. They are soft in outline, often with long arching stems, and are easy to accommodate in mixed borders.
Many wide-spreading shrub roses actually need to be supported by wooden frameworks like crutches under their armpits, as it were.
Broadly speaking, shrub roses fall into two groups. There are those that flower once, posh old varieties, often with fancy French names - madame de this or that, souvenir de something-or-other.
And there are those that repeat-flower - modern shrub roses, largely 20th-century concoctions such as David Austin's English roses (Golden Celebration, Gertrude Jekyll), hybrid musks ('Penelope', 'Buff Beauty') and hybrid perpetuals ('Mrs John Laing').
These were bred by crossing bush and old-fashioned roses, and they all have some of the characteristics of both. There is a sub-group, the species roses (with Latin names, Rosa this or that), which also flower once and are often valued for their autumn hips.
Old shrub roses that bloom only once should have their flowering stems cut back around now, immediately they have finished doing their stuff, to a point where they are already making fresh growth. These new shoots will carry the best of next year's flowers and should not be removed.
In winter, when it is easier to get at the plant and see what is going on down below, you should review the overall growth and shape, and perhaps remove the oldest and least productive of the old main branches coming from the base to encourage it to make new ones.
If those top shoots, now a few months old, have grown too long and are rather lanky, they can be shortened by up to a third of their length, but no more. Any weedy shoots that clearly will not bear the weight of flowers can be removed completely.
Modern (repeat-flowering) roses, which include shrubs such as 'Ballerina' and all those ground-hugging little things with the names of counties and birds (Surrey, Partridge and so on ), as well as those mentioned above - should just be dead-headed during the summer.
Proper pruning should be carried out in December or January, with oldest wood cut out and the entire bush reduced by a third or even more - much as you would prune a floribunda or hybrid tea. However, hybrid musks will have a distinct and very powerful second flush in the early autumn if the old flowering shoots are cut back a bit further - by up to 2ft - once they have finished in July.

Many thanks Dcr that is the most helpfull article I have read for a long time, as you say the shrub roses do not always respond to the same pruning as others. This Pure abundance is obviously one of them. I am certainly cutting and pasting this into my garden file for future reference. Many many thanks. I knew of Goy would come up with the answers!!

You can get the full article on line Telme though I hardly left anything out. Glad it suited you.

Hello Telme8 - as your post is well over a year old now, this advice may be way too little too late, but here goes anyway!
My Pure Abundance is in its second year - planted in a raised flower bed with W facing aspect and in heavy clay loam.
I bought it and planted it out in the worst possible season - May (last year) and it hardly thrived at all in 2011 and bore very few flowers. The stems were also very spindly and liable to snap.
Knowing nothing about rose pruning when I bought it, I cut it right back to the ground (about 20cm) around Nov last year, once the last flowers had faded.
This year it has towered to a hefty 6ft, with deep glossy green leaves, loads of flowers and very sturdy stems - so the drastic cut did it good apparently (and I cut off all the old wood too, so it definitely flowers on the new).
Will try to upload a photo now - good luck!

Here you go:

www.growsonyou.com/ilovemontydon

Just seen yours Ilovemontydon and it looks really healthy with a lovely big bloom.