The Award categories are as follows:

1. The Greatest Festive Catering Team
This category is designed to find the garden centre that has made the coffee shop and restaurant a key part of the Christmas experience. 

2. The Greatest Christmas Sizzle
Cooking the Christmas turkey or joint on a barbecue is a hot new trend. We’re looking for the garden centre that has fully embraced the idea in a way that helps to sell barbecues and food hall produce. 

3. The Greatest Christmas Houseplants Team
Christmas is the biggest opportunity of the year for houseplant sales. We’re looking for great plants, brilliant festive presentation, creative added value, effective in-store marketing and helpful staff.

4. The Greatest Christmas Grotto
This award will include ratings for marketing, the booking system, queue management and, of course, the all-important experience

5. The Greatest Christmas Display Team
For visual merchandising teams, Christmas is an opportunity to create displays that not only stop people in their tracks but encourage them to spend.

6. The Greatest Garden Centre Team at Christmas (public voting)
This category is decided purely by public voting. If you have a loyal, satisfied customer base, you’re in with a chance of lifting the title.

Tickets are selling fast for The Greatest Christmas Awards Party – they include a three course meal with wine plus entertainment and dancing to the resident band from the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Combine your buying trip to the Harrogate Christmas & Gift Fair with a great night out.  You’ll be in the company of industry friends and you could even win an award. Email pat.flynn@tgcmc.co.uk or call 01733 775700 for a booking form.

Pictured above: The Old Railway Line Garden Centre display team toast their efforts. See below a selection of other garden centre Christmas display teams we've snapped this week, including Notcutts Tunbridge Wells, Caerphilly and Langlands Leeds.

Watch out in coming issues of GTN Xtra for pitcures of the wonderful christmas displays we see as we get underway with The Greatest Christams Awards judging for this year.

Garden & Leisure Group MD Neville Prest has announced he is to leave, following the takeover by the The Garden Centre Group.

Dave Murray, finance director at Garden & Leisure, becomes the acting MD, while marketing director John Moseley assumes buying team responsibilities following the decision by operations director Carol Paris to move full-time to the HTA.

The Garden Centre Group’s CEO, Kevin Bradshaw, thanked Prest  Neville for his “significant contribution” over the last 15 years. “Under Neville’s leadership, the business has grown from a single site at Cadbury into a chain of seven high-quality, destination garden centres which now sit proudly within The Garden Centre Group portfolio. We wish him all the very best in his future endeavours."

Neville Prest said the hard working and and loyal Garden & Leisure team should be very proud of their achievements. “I look forward to watching the centres grow and thrive as part of The Garden Centre Group family,” he added.

News of further management re-structuring at The Garden Centre Group is expected to emerge within the next few weeks.

The current tier of thirteen Regional Managers is expected to be replaced by a network of six Regional Directors, with Area Managers working beneath them.  GTN understands that three of the Regional Directors will be new appointments and three will be appointments from within TGCG.

The Garden Centre Group say they do not comment on internal HR matters ahead of announcements.

British Garden Centres have acquired Roxton Garden Centre in Bedfordshire, which becomes their eighth outlet.

The deal came with a special condition – that BGC joint owner Charles Stubbs named the day to marry his long-term partner Phillippa Nickson, who is the company’s general manager and has worked for the company since 1998. Stubbs had to propose before being allowed to buy another centre. The couple will now marry next summer.

The purchase takes Lincolnshire-based BGC into southern territory for the first time. Their HQ site is Brigg in Lincolnshire. The other centres are Woodthorpe (Lincs), Arcadia (Middlesborough), Gilberdyke (East Yorkshire), Irton (North Yorkshire), Spring (East Yorkshire) and Towneley (Lancashire).

The Roxton deal was completed last week for an undisclosed sum, with Alexander Mackie Associates acting for the vendors.

Stubbs and his brother Robert, the other owner, plan to grow turnover at the 12-acre Roxton site near the A1 from its current £1m by increasing the stock range and by adding new features, including a play area. The centre already has a 6ft high living maze.

GIMA, the UK’s only Trade Association dedicated to suppliers, requires a full time Director to spear head our activities.

A fantastic opportunity for an individual to influence and assist its Membership who operate in and around the Garden sector.

The ideal candidate will have excellent management, communication and operational skills that are needed to carry out this varied and exciting role.

The ideal candidate will also have had experience, at a senior level, in the garden sector (or a closely related sector) and therefore have a clear understanding of the  industry, with the ability to build relationships not just amongst the GIMA Members but right across the sector.

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to greatly influence the Gardening trade!

Please send a covering letter, your CV and current salary details to Nigel Thompson on recruitment@gima.org.uk.

We will send by return a copy of the job description.

Closing date: 25^th October 2013.

As the Christmas season opens fully in many garden centres across the country, there are early signs that buying for the festive period is well underway. GTN Bestsellers data reveals that Christmas sales are up by 57% on the same week last year.

Gardening and growing media sales are also up on the same week in 2012 so it’s not the end of the gardening sales season quite yet. 

But with colder weather arriving, customers are more likely to be visiting garden centres for warming soup and to shop from the cheery Christmas displays over the coming weeks.  Let’s hope the footfall numbers stay on the up!

Now’s the time to make sure your teams are nominated for The Greatest Christmas Awards.  We’re looking forward to receiving your entries. Email trevor.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Check out the GTN Bestsellers Top 50 sales volumes compared to the same week last year...

• Garden Products – up 15%
• Christmas – up 57%
• Growing Media – up 18%
• All items index – up 18%

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

Mid-October has been earmarked for completion of the Blue Diamond group’s takeover of Fermoys in South Devon.

Owners Richard and Mike Ford said they believed Blue Diamond was the ideal operator to fulfil their long term objectives. The Fords are to retain ownership of the property and will stay to help develop the business while Blue Diamond take a lease on the centre.

Richard Ford said: “This is more than just a take-over, it is a strategic move to help take Fermoy’s to yet another level”.

The site, between Newton Abbot and Totnes, is the subject of a current planning application for a modern purpose built unit that would create more than 30 new jobs. “Blue Diamond Group approached us earlier in the summer; they like the business as it is now and can see the potential” continued Mr Ford. “That potential will require significant investment and Blue Diamond are well placed to deliver. They are a highly respected  group with an innovative outlook within the sector.”

Blue Diamond’s managing director Alan Roper said his company had a lot of experience in developing new garden centres, “Our approach of concentrating on a garden centre’s core horticultural values enables us to offer something different from other retailers. We have a somewhat unique approach to garden centre development. Blue Diamond garden centres are designed to ensure that plants remain at the heart of the business.”

Mike Gilbert of Gilbert Evans, who brokered the partnership, said leasing was becoming more popular in the garden centre industry. “Leases are perfect for this type of scenario” he said. “Both parties want to work together to ensure the future success and viability of Fermoys.”

• Two nights bed and breakfast at the luxury Majestic, Harrogate's leading hotel.
• Dinner for two on Saturday evening (up to the value of £80).
• Two places at the prestigious Greatest Christmas Awards on Sunday evening
• A bottle of champagne
• An exhibition show guide

Research shows that a visit to a café or restaurant is fast becoming one of the key reasons for visiting a garden centre.

Customers are looking for a complete experience and 'making a day of it' invariably includes time spent within your dining space.

The key is to ensure that you maximise the retail potential of this captive audience by promoting a wide range of products and encouraging impulse buys.

• Consider lining the route leading to the service and seating areas with products to keep customers interested and encourage cross-selling

• Think about incorporating retail displays in under-utilised areas, such as around the till space or coffee pick up areas. These are ideal spots for impulse buys

• Box clever! You don't need to spend a fortune to showcase your merchandise. Smart use of product lines to create inspiring displays, such as a beautiful cake stand with mouth-watering scones or wooden crate displaying fresh vegetables ensures customers are tempted to buy from other areas of the garden centre 

The superlatives flowed thick and fast at AQUA 2013, the third edition of market leading showcase for the UK’s water gardening and aquatics trade. Among the words being used to describe the event which closed yesterday were ‘record breaking’, ‘excellent’, ‘focussed’, ‘innovative’ and ‘fantastic’.

With visitor numbers up 9.3% on 2011, AQUA 2013 again showed the importance attached to it both by retailers and exhibitors who took up more exhibition space than ever before. With AQUA now firmly established as a biennial event, it gave one of the industry’s key players the opportunity to exhibit for the first time. 

Adrian Burgess, managing director of Rolf C Hagen (UK), said moving the show to every other year gave them the opportunity to freshen up what they did and also engage with the whole industry. “AQUA will become more and more important as an event focussed on all our products which to us is a very big positive. We will definitely be back in 2015.”

For Tony Gunn, a senior territory manager of Peregrine Livefoods, it was an exciting first appearance at AQUA. “The feedback I have been getting has been very good. We have been rushed off our feet and buyers have been placing very good orders. The show has been very well organised and we will definitely support it in the future.”

King British have been show regulars since its inception in 2011 and as far as field sales manager Jane Austin is concerned King British needs to be at AQUA.  “It is the UK’s major showcase for all manufacturers and distributors and a brilliant place to do business.”

Aquarline’s Peter Hemingway has been in the aquatics industry for 26 years and 2013 was his first time as an exhibitor at AQUA. “The show has worked extremely well for us and we have had a lot of positive interest in our new products, many of which are hi-tech ones. There is a good friendly environment about the halls. We will back in two years time and I hope as the exhibition grows, so will we.”

As far as Jim Marshall, the managing director of Atlantis WGP, is concerned this year has proved the best of the three AQUAs. He summed up by saying: “If you are in water gardening you have to be at AQUA. We will be back in 2015.”

Maintaining involvement with their customers as well as establishing new ones, is a key aspect of exhibiting at the show according to Alex Hinton, the trade marketing manager of Tetra. “We find AQUA a great mechanic to get face-to-face feedback from our retailers and the footfall on our stand has been very impressive.”

Satisfaction among visitors was equally high. Stephen Walker, an area manager with World of Water, enthused: “It’s been a really good, informative show. We have picked up a lot of good ideas. After a very poor 2012 our trade has picked up in 2013 and we are at the point where we need new ideas to carry us into the winter aquatics season. In previous years I spent a day at the show. This year I definitely need two.”

Another buyer looking for ideas was David Matthews of Harveys Aquatics and Pets based in Dudley.  “It’s a very impressive show and I really like the way it’s laid out. We have come to the show to look for ideas as we are moving into tropicals and they are all here.”

Aquariums for use in schools was the objective for Colm O’Reilly of Fintastic Aquariums for Derry in Northern Ireland. “We already supply large display aquariums in schools and shops, but we are here looking for much smaller units to use as teaching aids. The show is a great place to learn about the industry.”

Finding what he wanted was the key objective for Steven Warburton, the assistant manager of Ripples Waterlife in Bridgemere, Cheshire, and his visit proved a success. “It’s nice to see what’s new in one place,” he added.

Summing up the reaction to AQUA 2013, organiser Annie Dyke said: “I am delighted with the enthusiasm shown by exhibitors and visitors to our biennial event. The record-breaking attendance proves that the format of AQUA is continuing to deliver the audience our exhibitors have come to expect from the largest show of its kind in the UK. I look forward to welcoming everyone back to Telford in two years’ time.”

Atlantis Water Garden Products scooped a top prize in the AQUA 2013 New Products Awards for their innovative Sectional Pond.

Atlantis won the Water Gardening category with the judges saying the product had a clear 'Wow' factor.

The judges were impressed with such a bold move by the company into the top end of the pond and koi market.

"This product will offer ‘off the shelf’ solutions to customers looking for a larger koi or swimming pond. The judges felt keeping to the Atlantis green colour was well used with the product and expands the already-good range of ponds."

Jim Marshall of Atlantis WGP, seen here receiving his award from organisers Gordon Thomas and Jo Craik, said it was an absolute joy to be chosen as the winning product in the water gardening category. “We are grateful to the industry because of the time it has taken to design the product.

“The concept of the design was to answer to a couple of needs. The swimming pond market is an up and coming one and it provides a simple solution for consumers looking to install large koi ponds.”

“The design thought was to create a sectional pond that can be transported on conventional transport without specialist lifting equipment.”

Mars Fishcare API’s Pond Care range was shortlisted with the judges saying: "The range is well packaged with a clear identity of what each product does. All in all the range offers a consumer friendly approach to a wide variety of pond problems."



The Shopfitting category was won by CASCO Europe for their PetStack – Mix & Match Retail Pack. The judges’ said: "The winning product looks great and it can be stacked to fit any shape in a retail environment. Made from high-quality materials, the units are very easy to install. This gives retailers the ability to adapt the layout as their business needs change. The system can be self-installed to save costs."

Shortlisted was the Beaver Water Plant Tiered Aquatic Display System – a good-looking and inexpensive way to display pond plants, said the judges.

VegTrug, the original, self contained, raised vegetable garden company is adding a new slim-line version of the iconic V-shaped planter to its range in the form of the Wall Hugger. 

Narrower than its sister VegTrugs, the Wall Hugger as the name suggests is designed to sit against the wall or on a balcony as an attractive feature or to maximise space in small gardens.

There are two sizes of Wall Hugger – a medium 1.8 metre and a smaller 1 metre version, both with sufficient depth to provide a neat, clean area for growing anything from herbs to strawberries to salads to root crops including potatoes. 

Sourced from sustainable plantation grown fir, VegTrugs are extremely durable and come with purpose built fitted membrane liners.   

Retailers can also stock replacement liners for ongoing sales opportunities.

Now something of a style statement and extremely popular with novice, casual and city gardeners, VegTrugs are nevertheless specially designed to offer a practical solution for the age old gardening problem of aching joints and bad backs - an easy working height with no need for kneeling or bending!

Their unique shape also provides perfect access for elderly or disabled users, giving retailers an ideal sales opportunity adaptable to the widest possible range of gardeners.

For more information visit www.vegtrug.com

Christmas comes but once a year, so you need to make the most of Christmas sales opportunities.  GTN Bestsellers is the answer. Every week from now until Christmas we compile and publish the Top 50 Bestsellers Christmas chart from garden centre Epos data, giving the best and most up to date garden centre trading information on the market.

If you’d have been a subscriber last year you’ll have known that History and Heraldry Moneyboxes were the No.1 best selling product for the christmas season and which products from Premier Decorations and Kaemingk graced the Top 50 volume sales charts week by week.

Plus, you’ll have benefitted from the GTN Bestsellers Garden Products chart and our Tip of the week – a gem of a sales idea every week derived from 5 years of GTN Bestsellers charts.

Christmas is cioming fast, so you need to act now.  Buy a subscription to GTN Bestsellers right now. For just £145.00, you get a printed GTN Bestsellers chart posted to you each week, full access to the GTN Bestsellers charts and the GTN Archive on-line and your own copy of Garden Trade News in the post each issue.

And there’s more!! 

If you take out a GTN Bestsellers subscription before the end of October, we’ll send you, as a bonus, all of the GTN Bestsellers Christmas Charts for 2012 so you'll have the best view of how trends have changed and be most prepared when it comes to buying for Christmas 2014.

So, what are you waiting for?  To get your subscription to GTN Bestsellers up and running, simply subscribe online here

or contact us by phone on 01733 775700 or by e-mail: karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

GTN Bestsellers – Garden Centre Bestsellers, Guaranteed!

Every week GTN receives and analyses epos data from a number of UK garden centres to produce the GTN Bestsellers charts and weekly bestsellers sales tips.

The full charts which provide useful insight into product sales peaks, new trends and new link sales opportunities are published in the weekly GTN Xtra printed newsletter and on the GTN website www.gardentradenews.co.uk.

Every week we give sales volume comparisons with 2011 as well as 2012 to allow your teams to see variations over a three year period.

Access is by subscription only.  For £145.00 per year you and your team can have access to the most upto date gardening sales analysis that has already helped many UK garden centres increase their sales.  To subscribe call 01733 775700, or subscribe on-line here

or e-mail karen.pfeiffer@tgcmc.co.uk

Highlights of the GTN Garden Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Christmas Products Bestsellers chart for this week are here

Highlights of the GTN Growing Media Bestsellers chart for this week are here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts seriously improve the business of our subscribers.  Invest 15 minutes each week in improving your sales using the GTN Bestsellers charts and your turnover and customer satisfaction will improve too.

Head of marketing Paul Lerigo said the company had invested heavily to better understand the preferences and behaviours of consumers in the core product areas of weedkillers, insecticides, houseplant feeds and garden plant feeds. “We have used the insights gained to evolve our product ranges, the packaging and merchandising,” he said. “Trials have already shown good results and we expect this approach to deliver dividends for both ourselves and our retail partners.”

Shopper insight research has revealed that consumers are often confused by the weedkiller fixture. Having come in store with a particular task in mind, for example clearing the drive or patio of weeds, they find it difficult to select a product and more often than not leave without making a purchase. Bayer has subsequently simplified the category and segmented it according to task, re-designed the packaging to give at a glance information and developed a new fixture layout supported by POS materials. The results are impressive; the walkaway rate has dropped from 70% to just 46%.

Meanwhile, Baby Bio’s brand partnership this summer with the hit movie, EPIC, created a major hike in sales; in June sales were 53% up compared to the same month a year ago. Sales for the first seven months of the year were also up by almost 20% and during the weekend the film opened nationwide there was a 600% rise on average daily traffic to the Bayer Garden website.

Baby Bio Drip Feeders have already driven a 12.6% increase (GfK Houseplant care YTD Jan-July 2013) in the houseplant care category. “We are also researching the houseplant care market,” explained Product Manager, Alison Mulvaney. “We know there is potential for growth and are conducting the research to identify and be able to capitalise on new opportunities.”

At the heart of the strategy for Provado insecticides is the message that thiacloprid, the active ingredient in Provado Ultimate Bug Killer, is an entirely new sub-class of neonicotinoid considered to have a good profile for bees. The company’s new Bee Care Centre will help educate consumers and retailers.

A number of promotions on the popular Phostrogen brand are planned.

Stephen H Smith have confirmed they are to close their Scunthorpe garden centre on 3 November, in a previously flagged up deal that will see a £30m Marks & Spencers development on the site.

This leaves the company with just two centres, at Harden and Otley in North Yorkshire. They sold their Bolton store to local rivals Summerseat Garden Centre in June.

The disposals were triggered by the retirement of Stephen Smith, whose son Chris and his wife now run the business.

Fifteen jobs will be lost at Scunthorpe.

There is still a wide variety of garden products being sold but orchid-related items are becoming increasingly more popular, according to GTN Bestsellers data.

Growth Technology Orchid Focus Bloom Fertiliser 100 ml is this week’s highest re-entry, returning to the chart at No 15. The company’s Orchid Focus Grow Fertiliser 100 ml also returns at No 21 while Orchid Myst moves up to No 4.

Meanwhile Fito Drip Feeder for Orchids retains No 2 spot for a second week, behind Solus Yeoman Professional Bypass Secateurs.

Soft grip secateurs from Yeoman are this week’s only newcomers with Pink and Autumn Green filling No 22 and 34 places respectively.

Other notable re-entries include Bayer Boltac Greasebands and Gardman Pressure Treated Softwood Tree Stakes.

See the full GTN Garden Products Bestsellers Chart here.  Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

Consumers are starting to get into the festive buying mood with the first GTN Bestsellers Christmas Products chart of the year showing big increases in sales volumes this week.

The Top 10 is dominated by personalised decorations with chart newcomer History & Heraldry Christmas Carousel Charms, which sell at 49p each, claiming No 1 spot.

H&H are also at No 2 with their ever-popular Christmas Money Box while the Halligan Raby Personalised Christmas Door Hanger follows closely behind.

Kaemingk’s Rose on Clips with Glitter are also proving popular – there are eight different designs and colours in the Top 50, headed by Oxblood.

One of the stand-out items this week is the Premier Laser Light. Pictured on display at Notcutts, it is the most expensive line in the chart at £59.99 yet it has sold high volumes and finds its way to a creditable No 47.

The new Premier Fibre Optic Canvas Print (battery operated) has also had a good week, jumping straight into the chart at No 15.

See the full GTN Christmas Bestsellers Chart here.  Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

It is your last chance to book one of the few remaining places at the HTA Garden Futures dinner and conference, ‘Know it, sow it, grow it’, which takes place at One Great George Street in London next week (16 and 17 October). Sponsored by Bord Na Mona, Hozelock and Scotts Miracle-Gro demand for tickets at this annual strategic industry event, has been impressive.

New to the speaker line up is well-known and respected retail expert Clare Rayner who will be talking about serving the multi-channel consumer. Using her corporate experience, from companies including McDonalds, M&S, Dixons, Argos, global software giant SAP and international management consulting brand Accenture, Clare will look at the emergence of online and the evolution of the customer experience using examples of where it worked and where it didn’t. She will also provide tips on the pitfalls to avoid and the advantage that smaller businesses have in being able to deliver an omni-channel approach to their customers.

Also focussing on the customer experience Paul Pleydell from Pleydell Smithyman will explore the need for theatre in retailing helping to give people a reason to visit.  In his thought provoking talk Paul will look at what is happening on the high street and seek to inspire garden centre operators and the suppliers to think about their businesses in new ways.

Clare and Paul join a host of high calibre speakers including Mark Palmer, Marketing Director of Pret a Manger, botanist, presenter and grower James Wong, TV Gardener David Domoney, Josh McBain from the Future Foundation, Pepijn Janssen from Store Performance Group, Richard Carr and Simon Davies from Hozelock, Chris Roberts from Van Hage Garden Centres and Michael Saunders from Barclaycard Bespoke.

The conference culminates in the Big Debate which is looking at growing the market through the supply chain. Panellists include Boyd Douglas-Davies from Hillview Garden Centres, Geoff Caesar from the Bransford Webb Plant Company, Richard Butler from Stewarts Plastics, Jonathan Halford from Forest and Gardman and Joanna Dyson from supply chain expert at ReSharpen. Join the debate using the hashtag #gardenfutures.

The Conference Dinner takes place on the evening of 16 October with Andy McIndoe from Hilliers Nurseries and Garden Centres providing the after dinner entertainment.

For more information and to download your booking form visit www.gardenfutures.org.uk or email events@the-hta.org.uk

GTN Xtra will be at the Conference and Conference Dinner so watch out for HTA Futures upates via GTN Xtra e-mail newsletters.

With growing media sales starting to slow, the good news is provided by sales of bark, top soil and farm manure showing the highest volume increases.

The star performers in this week's GTN Bestsellers Growing Media chart are:

• Westland Plant Protection Bark shows the most growth and returns to the Growing Media chart.
• Sinclair Topsoil (20 litres) sees a 50% increase in sales to move into the Top 10 bestselling items.
• Arthur Bowers Blended Farm Manure (50 litres) is the highest re-entry.
• Growise has a good week with their Hanging Growing Bag and Multipurpose Compost (20 litres).
• Scotts Levington Multipurpose Compost (25 litres) is the highest climber this week.

See the full GTN Growing Media Bestsellers Chart here.  Subscribers Only

To Subscribe to the full GTN Bestsellers Weekly Charts for only £145.00 per year click here

WARNING the GTN Bestsellers Charts can seriously improve your business.  Only subscribe if you want to invest 15 minutes each week in improving your turnover and customer satisfaction.

Forest Garden is strengthening its retail appeal with a new ‘Great Prices, Everyday’ policy.

The last 12 months have seen Forest develop a strengthened product portfolio, further invest in its sales, marketing and product development teams, as well as create campaigns designed to specifically drive consumers into store.

The company is now adding the final touches to this commitment to deliver ‘more’, with the introduction of a new, smarter pricing policy offering ‘Great Prices, Everyday’ for garden centres and builders’ merchants.

The ethos behind this new pricing structure is simple – to provide products at a great price, every day. As a market leader, the company has been setting the benchmark for product quality and the breadth of its range available to the garden retail market.

This new pricing structure further cements Forest’s commitment to delivering the best possible service; by providing retailers with an even more competitive offering than before.

Paul Taylor, National Sales Manager at Forest Garden, said: “Here at Forest we are not ones to rest on our laurels.

"We’ve developed our product ranges significantly in recent years and are in a position where we have absolute confidence in what we are offering. The introduction of the new, smarter pricing policy is the next logical step in our journey.

"We’ve no doubt that our customers will feel the immediate benefits of this change, allowing even more consumers to be able to access Forest’s unbeatable product selection.

"But more than this, we believe our new pricing structure will deliver even better consumer loyalty and repeat business, helping to boost overall, long-term profits.”

Some of the products that will benefit from Forest’s reduced trade and retail prices will include log roll, trellis and lattice, and arches and arbours.

For further information call 0844 248 9801 or email info@forestgarden.co.uk

Customer care has always been at the top of the agenda for Bents Garden & Home, but now the garden centre is taking its commitment to another level with the launch of a new customer loyalty scheme.  The new ‘be inspired’ club will reward members with exclusive privileges, personal benefits and special surprises.

Bents are inviting customers to join the scheme and become part of a new community with members treated at every opportunity.  Rewards will be available in store, online, at The Fresh Approach Restaurant as well as at a number of specially selected partners including Culcheth’s Spice Lounge, HotelExclusives.com and The Telegraph.

Says Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents Garden & Home:  “We are very aware that our customers choose to visit us and have wanted a way to say thank you for a long time.  The ‘be inspired’ privilege club is the perfect solution and we believe it’s the start of something very special.

“The more our customers visit us, whether online or in store, the more we will know about what they love so will be able to treat them with little extras that are most suited to them as an individual.”

Upon joining, members will receive a voucher for a welcome tea or coffee at The Fresh Approach Restaurant and an annual voucher for a slice of birthday cake.  Amongst other offers those who spend £30 or more in December will receive a £5 voucher to spend in January or February and all members will benefit from exclusive offers on products in store such as a Yankee Candle twin pack at £19.99 down from £33.98.

Customers who join in September, October and November will be entered into a draw to win £500 to spend on Christmas at Bents.

Customers can join online at bents.co.uk or pop in store to ask any Bents colleague who will be happy to help.

Kershaw’s Garden Centre in Brighouse are supplying a selection of plants to be used in a new drama for CBBC currently being filmed in Halifax.

Henry Winkler, best known for playing The Fonz in American comedy Happy Days, will appear in the new CBBC series.

The comedy drama has been adapted from the book series Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Underachiever, written by Winkler with Lin Oliver.

The series, titled Hank Zipzer, focuses on a smart 12-year-old boy who often gets into trouble. Like Winkler in real life, Hank also has dyslexia.

CBBC executive producer Sue Nott said: "The stories are inspired by the true life experiences of Henry Winkler and how he felt growing up with dyslexia.

"At CBBC, we try to reflect the lives of children back at them and Hank Zipzer shows that achievement comes in all shapes and sizes - and it's set to be very funny too!"

The series featuring the Brighouse plants will be shown in the new year when Kershaws will be celebrating their 150th anniversary.