In This Issue
Next week, all roads lead to Classiflora...
Arboretum planning second outlet – closer to Dublin
Kingfisher secure £80,000 pay-out from Toptrade group in brand dispute
Clarkson and May demonstrate the worst garden centre parking ever at Hilltop Garden Centre – and generate BBQ sales!
Barton Grange produce the wow factor with their Mother's Day display
Town & Country backs Greenfingers Glovies campaign
Europlants Spring Open Days wow customers with inspirational plants
Bents raise £12,292 for children’s hospital
Gardening celebs get their Glovies ready for 2015 Greenfingers Garden Re‐Leaf Quiz
Competition winner to donate half to hospice charity
Growing media sales continue to shine
Win a tablet and GIMA Awards tickets if you post the best photo #Glovies
Busy Bee Week at Wyevale Garden Centres
Seasonal Supervisor - Hampshire
Home & Leisure Manager - East Midlands
Sales Merchandiser, Gardman
Nursery Operations manager - North East
Sales Development Manager - Hampshire
Adam Frost joins HTA Board
Frozen ground leads to sales freeze
Steve Harper is new chair of Growing Media Association
Time to order your Garden Re-Leaf toolkit
Premier launch adaptor that will cut your Christmas lighting display battery costs
Some brands are short-changing retailers and consumers say Johnsons Lawn Seed
Veg seed sales jump
Tie-break thriller in Young Horticulturist of the Year heat
Monkton Elm says ‘bonjour’ to new Catering Operations Manager
Flopro collapsible watering can is a hot pick for Crest
The Tildenet Group appoints new marketing manager
Bestsellers Top 50 charts every week
Buy your subscription to GTN Bestsellers
Situations Vacant
Seasonal Supervisor - Hampshire
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Home & Leisure Manager - East Midlands
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Sales Merchandiser, Gardman
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Clarkson and May demonstrate the worst garden centre parking ever at Hilltop Garden Centre – and generate BBQ sales!



Jeremy Clarkson and James May were seen on BBC TV at Hilltop Garden Centre, Witney, in last Sunday’s screening of ‘Top Gear’, drinking “hot sweet tea to calm their nerves”  during filming of the worst car parking ever.

As part of a “History of Peugeot” feature, the two BBC Top Gear presenters took to the road “as if they were not interested in cars at all” in a Peugeot 307CC and a Peugeot 407, stopping off at the Hillview-owned Hilltop Garden Centre for a coffee and to film a parking sequence in which several cars and plants were seriously damaged as part of the “plot”.

“We were contacted by the Top Gear team last summer about using the centre as a location and then shrouded in secrecy to keep the event quiet” Hillview CEO  Boyd Douglas-Davies told GTN Xtra.  “Now that the episode has been broadcast we are anxious to re-assure customers that James May and Jeremy Clarkson will not be bringing their old Peugeots and that style of driving to the centre any more.  We don’t usually have incidents like that in our car park.”

You can see the episode on the BBC iplayer by clicking  this link. The “History of Peugeot” starts at 41:50 into the episode and the hapless pair are seen arriving at Hilltop Garden Centre at 56:45.

During the feature, Clarkson’s Peugeot catches fire while he is driving. That, and the location, has proved useful publicity successful for the centre, which reported a barbecue sale as a direct result of the BBC2 broadcast.  “A customer remembered he’d planned to buy a new one last year and that prompted him to come in and buy this week” they told GTN Xtra.

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Top Gear at Hilltop 1.jpg
Top Gear at Hilltop 1.jpg
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