Dobbies revealed plans this week to build a new £8m Garden World in Harrogate, which, it says, would be a 'state-of-the-art horticultural centre of excellence'.
The garden centre is proposed on a 10-acre site on Skipton Road towards the north edge of Harrogate, two miles from the town centre. Dobbies, which is part of the Tesco Group, says it would create 120 full- and part-time jobs supported by in-house training programmes, giving 50% of staff specific horticultural knowledge and expertise.

Dobbies plans to offer more than 10,000 plants, shrubs and trees at the new centre, and include extensive outdoor areas plus a specialist aquatics department within a landscaped environment.

It would also incorporate a farm food hall offering locally-grown Yorkshire produce as well as a 350-seater restaurant serving freshly-prepared meals and home baking.

Dobbies is now mounting two public exhibitions on December 4 and 5 from which it hopes to receive feedback from local people ahead of its planning application.

Dobbies director of property Stuart Wright said: "Ahead of our public consultation in Harrogate, we carried out market research to understand the demand for a retailer such as Dobbies in the area. The response to this was very positive and over three-quarters of respondents would be 'very likely' to visit a new garden centre in the Harrogate area.

"The local community also said that new job creation was also considered a very important aspect of bringing a new garden centre to Harrogate."

The £8m development would be constructed from sustainably-sourced timber and other natural construction materials, and include a range of environmentally-friendly features such as energy-efficient lighting systems and extensive rainwater recycling.

Dobbies currently has 32 garden centres throughout the UK, with over 16m customers every year.