Monkton Elm MD, Mike Lind with Monkton Elm's restaurant expansion plans.

Monkton Elm Garden Centre’s future growth is orientated around the development of its restaurant, Craft Centre and Pet & Reptile Centre. It is a niche, destination garden centre where people come not just to purchase plants and gardening products but also to have an experience and a day out.

The £5.5m turnover garden centre recently received planning permission to expand its restaurant to seat 330 people. The 950 square metre development, which is approximately double the size of the current restaurant, is anticipated to start this summer and be completed by Christmas that year. The project investment will total £1.5million, making it one of the biggest catering investment projects in Somerset.

As a result of this investment, the garden centre hopes to create more than 10 new jobs across the whole business, which already employs around 90 dedicated, experienced and friendly staff.

The plan is to make the revamped restaurant as environmentally-friendly as possible with regards to heating, cooling and rain water capture systems. The exact details are being finalised during the next few months.