GCA reveals N.East and N.West regional winners

Wednesday, July 25, 2018 - 11:41

NORTH East and North West regional members of The Garden Centre Association (GCA) are celebrating after picking up awards during a presentation recently (Thursday, July 19, 2018) at Barton Grange Garden Centre.

In the North East, Cowell’s Garden Centre was awarded Garden Centre of the Year in the Garden Centre (GC) category and Tong Garden Centre received Garden Centre of the Year in the Destination Garden Centre category. In the North West Fron Goch Garden Centre (GC) and Bents Garden & Home (DGC) received the accolade.

Mike Lind, GCA Chaiman, said:

“Our third regional awards meeting was a huge success once again and it was great to see everyone in attendance sharing their thoughts and feedback with each other and lots of them making notes based our inspector Michael Cole’s presentation. I’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to Barton Grange Garden Centre for being wonderful hosts for the evening. Guy Topping, Managing Director at Barton Grange, treated all our members to a behind-the-scenes guided tour of the garden centre’s latest development, The Flower Bowl, a stunning leisure concept finished to a very high specification and the evening ended with fish and chips and a barge trip on the canal.”

The award for the most improved centre in the North East went to Whiteleys Garden Centre and in the North West it was GCA winners awarded to Klondyke Brookside Garden Centre.

The winners of The Barton Grange Trophy for Innovation and Creativity were Cowell’s Garden Centre in the North East and Bents Garden & Home in the North West.

The next regional awards meeting for Wales & West will take place on Tuesday, July 24 at Whitehall Garden Centre – Whitchurch.

The penultimate meeting will take place on Thursday, July 26 at Brookfields, Nottingham followed by the Scotland and Northern Ireland regional awards meeting on Wednesday, August 29 at Simpsons Garden Centre, Inverness.

The full results for the North East and North West regions GCA area awards are as follows for the GC and DGC categories:

North East

Garden Centre of the Year: Cowell’s Garden Centre (GC) and Tong Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Customer Service: Cowell’s Garden Centre
Environment and Community Award: Joint winners Cowell’s Garden Centre and Klondyke Stokesley Garden Centre
The Barton Grange Trophy for Innovation and Creativity: Cowell’s Garden Centre
The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre: Whiteleys Garden Centre
The ifse Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant: Joint winners Klondyke Garforth Garden Centre and Klondyke Beverley Garden Centre (GC) and Tong Garden Centre (DGC)
The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer: Cowell’s Garden Centre (GC) and Tong Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer: Klondyke Stokesley Garden Centre (GC) and Wentworth Garden Centre (DGC)
Best Outdoor Living Retailer: Klondyke Garforth Garden Centre (GC) and Tong Garden Centre (DGC)z

North West

Garden Centre of the Year: Fron Goch Garden Centre (GC) and Bents Garden & Home (DGC)
Best Customer Service: Bents Garden & Home
Environment and Community Award: Bents Garden & Home
The Barton Grange Trophy for Innovation and Creativity: Bents Garden & Home
The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre: Klondyke Brookside Garden Centre
The ifse Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant: Fron Goch Garden Centre (GC) and Bents Garden & Home (DGC)
The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer: Fron Goch Garden Centre (GC) and Bents Garden & Home (DGC)
Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer: Klondyke Lady Green Garden Centre (GC) and Bents Garden & Home (DGC)
Best Outdoor Living Retailer: Klondyke Wilmslow Garden Centre (GC) and Barton Grange Garden Centre (DGC)

The GCA represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide. Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.