The team at Tong Garden Centre is celebrating after winning a regional sustainability award.

Sustainability Lead, Steph Bates and Head of People and  Culture, Neil Barwise-Carr were presented with the Sustainability Award at the FSB Celebrating Small Business Awards in Yorkshire and The Humber on 24th February.

Organised by the business campaigner, FSB (Federation of Small Businesses), the awards celebrate the achievements and contributions of small businesses and the self-employed across the UK.

"We are delighted and proud to win the Sustainability award. The team has worked tirelessly to embed sustainable principles in all our garden centres and this award is well-deserved.

"We have exciting plans for 2023 that include partnering with the Carbon Literacy Project to educate our team, and this is a great springboard to launch our initiatives," said Tong Garden Centre's Head of People and Culture, Neil Barwise-Carr.

The winners were announced at a lunch at the Queens Hotel in Leeds that was hosted by BBC broadcaster, newsreader and producer, Elly Fiorentini.

Tong Garden Centre beat Wakefield's Tunley Engineering, Skipton-based Comply Direct, Scarborough-based Sea Grown and York-based ecups Limited and the win has secured them a place in the UK final later that takes place at the NEC in May.

Tong Garden Centre occupies a 19-acre site in Tong village. It is one of Yorkshire's biggest independent garden centres with 11,600m2 of retail space and parking for up to 700 cars. It is part of the Yorkshire Garden Centres (YGC) group that also owns Tingley Garden Centre and the former Stephen H Smith's Garden Centres in Otley and Harden, Bingley.