Garden centre groups Notcutts and Creative Gardens and online home and garden retailer Primrose have been named in a prestigious list of inspirational UK firms.

The London Stock Exchange Group lists more than 1000 companies in a report designed to recognise the efforts of “dynamic, entrepreneurial and ambitious businesses” that are boosting UK productivity, driving economic growth and creating jobs.

Family-run garden centre group Creative Gardens in Northern Ireland, which has branches in Donaghadee, Bushmills and Galgorm, has an annual turnover of £6.6m and is run by brothers Oliver and Philip Gass (pictured) and their sister, Jenny Dumigan. It was set up 30 years ago by their mother, Diana, when she started up on the Donaghadee site.

Two more centres followed in Bushmills, Co Antrim, and the grounds of Galgorm Castle near Ballymena, the latter a £2m investrment in 2014.

Notcutts is a long-standing family business operating 18 garden centres with a total turnover of more than £67 million. It is believed to be the biggest family business in the industry.

Reading-based Primrose, founded in 2003, is operated by Meika Ltd, also a family-run business. It prides itself on its across-the-board in-house approach.