Dobbies Garden Centres has opened a new store in Bar Hill, Cambridge, to take its number of centres to 35, and follows the completion of a major revamp of the neighbouring Tesco store.

Cutting the flower-decked crimson ribbon to officially declare it open for business were pupils from Bar Hill Primary School – Charlotte Dyson, Jasmine Murphey, Star Dalston, Jada Fiatls, Chloe Proudfoot and AJ Debono.

The children were joint-winners of a competition run by Dobbies to design their own dream garden and have also secured their school a £500 shopping spree of plants and gardening goodies. They also took part in a Little Seedlings workshop and got stuck into some digging and planting.

Also on hand was Dobbies General Manager Chris Swales, enjoying a double celebration as the store-opening coincided with his birthday.

He said: “I’m thrilled our new store is open and the feedback today from our first customers has been fantastic.

"We’re proud to be offering a huge range of beautiful garden products, gifts and home ware – as well as a small pets and aquatics store.

"We’re already looking forward to opening Santa’s grotto next month. It’s also been great to create a total of  fourteen new jobs for people who truly love plants, pets and shopping.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Tesco Bar Hill Store Manager Owen Davies added: “The new Dobbies shop is really exciting. Customers have been coming up to me for weeks asking when it’s going to open and what it will stock.

"We just finished a major revamp of our store a few weeks ago, adding some new departments and refurbishing areas like the counters and fresh food. I think customers are going to really love the combination of our refreshed Tesco store and the new Dobbies.”

Dobbies has today grown to become one of the UK’s leading garden centre groups with over 16 million customers every year at 35 stores across the UK and online at www.dobbies.com.

In 2007, Dobbies became part of the Tesco Group although its HQ remains in Edinburgh as a separate company with a unique brand and identity.