Notcutts have completed the acquisition of Frosts’ Brampton garden centre near Huntingdon. Brampton becomes the latest garden centre to join the family-owned garden centre group. Notcutts now have 19 UK garden centres together with a flourishing e-commerce operation.
First established in 1897, Notcutts has developed to become a leading name in horticulture and home gardening. While plant expertise and garden inspiration remains at its core, Notcutts now offers a wide leisure and shopping experience for customers including handpicked homeware and gift ranges, furniture, and garden accessories. High quality restaurants are also central to the Notcutts customer experience. Significant investment has been made across the company in recent years to create modern, upgraded restaurants which are proving so popular with customers.
Nick Burrows, CEO commented “Frosts share a similar set of values to ourselves in the way they operate their garden centres and this has always been cause for our admiration of their organisation. So when Brampton became available for sale we saw it as a garden centre that would fit well as part of Notcutts. Their fabulous gardening offer, great gift and furniture ranges together with a fantastic restaurant all meant that it was of great appeal to us.”
Burrows added “On top of this, it has become clear that the Brampton team place a high importance on delivering great customer service which, is right at the heart of all we seek to achieve in every one of our garden centres. We are therefore delighted that we have now been able to complete this acquisition and I would like to thank James Frost and his team for the positive dialogue we have had at all stages of the transaction.”
Now in its 125th year, Notcutts has remained a family business which is now in its fifth generation of family-ownership. Caroline Notcutt, Great-Granddaughter of Notcutts’ founder Roger Crompton Notcutt, is Vice Chairman today.
Caroline Notcutt said: “We are delighted to welcome Brampton Garden Centre into our Notcutts family. It is an exciting opportunity to grow our business and for Notcutts to reach customers in a new area of the country during our anniversary year. With our family values and our passion for gardening, home, and high quality restaurant experiences, we believe we are well placed to succeed Frosts as owners of this excellent garden centre. It will be our goal to ensure that our new Brampton customers will now enjoy visiting their local Notcutts Garden Centre to experience all we have to offer.”
Joanne Hawkins-McDowell, General Manager, Notcutts Brampton, said: “We are so pleased to welcome Notcutts as the new owners at Brampton Garden Centre during this exciting period of change. Notcutts is a well-established family business and we look forward to being part of the Notcutts future. I know that Notcutts place great importance in creating great experiences for their customers every day and that they also have an ambitious and progressive strategy for the future. This is of great appeal to us at Brampton. I’m also particularly excited by Notcutts clear commitment to a range of projects in support of environmental, sustainability and biodiversity goals.”
Hawkins-McDowell added “We are now all looking forward to sharing our collective expertise and inspiring all our regular and new customers when they visit us here at Notcutts Brampton.”
Photo caption: (Front, L-R) Nick Burrows, CEO; Joanne Hawkins-McDowell, General Manager; and Caroline Notcutt, Vice Chairman, celebrate the official launch of Notcutts Brampton Garden Centre with colleagues. (Credit: Gregg Brown Photography / Copyright: Notcutts Ltd)