Blue Diamond MD, Alan Roper, has told GTN Xtra that their new centre at East Bridgford, Nottingham, which opened last Thursday 22nd March, took £241,107 ex vat in the first seven days, far exceeding initial expectations.   Takings for Good Friday and Easter Saturday totalled £110,000.

"On Good Friday I closed the restaurant from 1.45 to 2.15 as we were pushed beyond sustainable limits to provide continued high quality service. The numbers were overwhelming and we are not advertising!"

"This is my first ever experience of opening a centre with social media, and it's going viral.  We've had over 5,000 sign ups to our Diamond Club and we're looking forward to seeing the 'heat map' next week to understand the size of the area we are pulling customers in from."

"I'm really glad for the team that we have to close on Easter Sunday. That will give the team a welcome break."

Alan also told GTN Xtra that across the Blue Diamond Group, gardening was down £1 million in the first 25 days of March compared to last year.  "Back in 2013 we were also similarly down and we did pull it back then, so provided we have reasonable weather and gardening gets traction during April and May all will be well."

See GTN Xtra's photo tour of the new centre here