California Gardens in East Yorkshire has been sold for £1.5m to two local businessmen who plan to invest more than £1m in the garden centre and create 15 new jobs.

Cameron Holroyd and Rob Hardcastle have plans for a new 250-cover restaurant plus other upgrades to the centre at Howden near Goole.

Mr Hardcastle owns several East Yorkshire landscaping and horticultural businesses, including Ellerker Lodge Garden Centre near Brough.

California Gardens has been owned by the Hall family since 1879 and is one of the UK's oldest garden centres.

Rob Hardcastle said: “California Gardens is very well known by everyone in the area and we’re thrilled to have bought an important piece of local history, which has been in the care of successive generations of the Hall family for over 140 years.

“Our aim is now to make garden centre even better, with a fantastic range of plants and garden accessories and an extension and upgrade of the café, which we have renamed the Olive Tree.

"We’re currently getting ready for the café’s reopening on April 12 and later this year plan to extend the space so that it seats 250 people and becomes a full restaurant, serving great home-cooked meals.”