There has been a 51% increase in the number of visits to garden centre cafes over the last three years according to the latest Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) report.
The report, entitled 'Garden Centre Catering - growth and success', shows that garden centres' catering services are becoming a major draw for visitors. The number of specialist garden retailers who now offer catering is currently 50%, up 10% since 2008. The number of visitors to garden centre cafes has surged, from 36million in 2008 to around 55m last year.

While transaction values have remained similar over this period, the increased provision of catering combined with more adults visiting garden centres has led to the café sales roughly doubling since 2006.

It has also been revealed that the centres' catering options are more likely to be a hit with customers over the age of 45. According to the HTA, this highlights the need for the sector to continue to improve in order to sustain this current strong performance.

The HTA said: "The report is especially useful for anyone looking to assess how their catering is performing against the market as a whole. It is also useful to anyone needing to go to the bank with a business case relating to investments in a catering operation."