The directors of an expanding West Yorkshire garden centre are adding two further outlets in a buy-out as they prepare to launch two more.
YGC Group, the parent company of Tong Garden Centre - which sits between Bradford and Leeds - is taking over the two Stephen H Smith centres in Otley and Harden, near Bingley.
Managing director, Mark Farnsworth, said: “We are delighted to take on the Stephen H Smith sites. Their business was established in 1966 and has a proud history. We are very grateful to Christopher Smith for the opportunity to run these two great garden centres. We hope we can retain and enhance their reputation in the coming years.
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“We plan to invest in both sites to help them thrive, which we hope will provide great opportunities for the existing team and for future employees.” A total of 100 staff will transfer.
Mr Farnsworth said: “It has always been our ambition to create a group of family destination garden centres in Yorkshire and the addition of these sites sets us well on our way. We have been delighted with the progress we have made at Tong over the last seven years and, with Tingley set to open in the autumn and a planning application submitted for a third site at Thorp Arch, it’s going to be a busy second half to 2022.
“We have been building towards this growth for some time, so although we have a very busy couple of years in front of us, we are very confident that we have the team and the infrastructure in place to help deliver our plans. We hope to continue to enhance the offer for our customers and to create further opportunities for our fantastic teams at all sites.”
YGC launched in 2015, with Mr Farnsworth and co-founder Tom Megginson acquiring Tong Garden Centre. Then it employed 45 staff with a turnover of £3.3 million. That has now grown to £15 million, with the 19-acre site one of Yorkshire’s biggest independent garden centres with 125,000 square feet of retail space and parking for up to 700 cars.
Stephen H Smith was established in 1966, with the purchase of the Otley site from George Tyreman and Humphrey Woodcock, who had launched in 1957 by furthering a nursery started by poultry breeder Fred Simpson on the six-acre site back in 1913. Harden, added in 1985, covers four acres, with the business also adding Trent Valley Garden Centre at Scunthorpe, bought in 1986, and Irwell Valley at Bolton in 2001. The latter two were divested in 2013, with Bolton bought by Lancashire-based Summerseat Garden Centre and Trent Valley closing to make way for a retail park alongside the football ground.
Christopher Smith, partner in Stephen H Smith - having joined the family business in 1985 - said: “I’d like to thank our teams at Otley and Harden for all their hard work over the years, it has been very much appreciated. I am confident that we are leaving the business in very good hands and wish everyone every success for the future.”
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