Longacres, which claims to be the largest independent garden centre in the south-east of England, has acquired a second outlet.
The company, whose original business is in Bagshot, has bought on a long lease the site of a former Thompsons garden centre in Shepperton, which had been closed for some months. Both centres are in Surrey.

Mike Ainley, Longacres' IT manager, told diyweek.net that managing director Nigel Long had wanted for some time now to grow the business. "We've been looking for a while," he said. "The site is three acres, a third of the size of what we use at Longacres. It's a lot smaller but it's not too insubstantial - it's a nice size, well proportioned and has a good size car park. It lets us have a go at the second site without taking on something too small or too big.

"We're just at the stage of planning it all out. We're currently re-flooring the entire place, laying a new vinyl floor, and generally sprucing various aspects of the garden centre. At the moment there are no plans for additions but we are re-constructing an undercover area for plants. And there will be a cafe - there's nothing there at the moment."

He said the new centre would open at the end of September or beginning of October, with up to 14 new staff positions being created.

Longacres' Bagshot garden centre underwent a major rebuild and refurbishment last year and opened a new 140-cover cafe. The business, which has an annual turnover of £16.5m, also runs an ecommerce site.