Blue Diamond opened their 20th garden centre on Thursday 22nd March at East Bridgford, Nottingham.  The design, described by MD Alan Roper as "Redfields Plus" was an instant hit with customers resulting in packed car parks, busy cafe, thousands of Diamond Club sign ups and plenty of full trolleys going through the tills.

Below you can view our full picture tour of the new centre, taken on Friday 23rd March, when the car park and cafe was being tested to it's limits despite their marketing campaign not kicking in until the weekend.

MD Alan Roper told GTN Xtra last night after Saturdays trading: "A tidal wave of people came to East Bridgford today.  I was helping in the pot wash and marshalling cars in the car park along with the rest of the team to manage the situation.  This is going to be bigger than we anticipated.  We've already put signs up at the tills to recruit more staff.  It's really pleasing for the team who have worked so hard to get the centre open and looking so great.  Thank you to them all."

East Bridgford marks the start of a busy year for Blue Diamond with redevelopments in the pipeline for Fermoys and Harlow centres plus new sites in negotiations in East Anglia, the North East, Yorkshire and the South of England.

One supplier at the centre on Friday described the new centre as Redfields on steroids.  Take a look at our picture gallery below and judge for yourself and watch out for more coverage of the store in future issues of GTN Xtra and GTN.