Scotsdales in talks to buy Notcutts Cambridge centre
Published: 11 September 2013
Notcutts has announced that it is in talks to sell its Horningsea, near Cambridge, garden centre to Scotsdales.
Subject to all parties reaching agreement, transfer of the business is planned for October 1 2013.
The deal will reduce Notcutts' estate to 18, while giving Scotsdales its third centre. Like Notcutts, Scotsdales is a family-owned business, which has been operating in the Cambridge area for over 40 years. Its garden centre at Great Shelford is one of the largest, single-site garden centres in the country with an annual turnover in excess of £14m.
The Great Shelford centre is situated to the south of Cambridge; the new acquisition will give the company a presence to the north.
Scotsdales also operates the smaller Fordham Garden Centre, near Ely, Cambridgeshire. On the site of the Fordham Nursery, it has this year been redeveloped and rebranded under the Scotsdales banner.
It was Scotsdales which made the approach to Notcutts to acquire the Cambridge business. Said interim CEO at Notcutts Andrew Staff: "When Scotsdales expressed an interest in the centre they made it clear that they were committed to the investment needed to develop the site. We feel this would be positive for the centre, and being family-owned means that Scotsdales would be a good fit for our colleagues working there."
No redundancies are planned, with all jobs being transferred with the business, and the garden centre is expected to carry on trading throughout the changeover.
Notcutts' Sage Privilege Club will cease to operate at Cambridge from the transfer date, but members are being offered a refund of membership.
Caroline Owen, managing director of Scotsdales, said: "We hope to welcome the team from Notcutts Horningsea to the Scotsdales family, with our intention to invest in and develop the business over the coming months."
A spokesperson for Scotsdales told diyweek.net that this would involve: "Updating it and bringing it in line with our existing centres."
Meanwhile, Notcutts says acquisition remains a key objective for the business and that several conversations are ongoing with regards to the growth of the company and its sites. It has owned the Cambridge site since 2003, when it was previously known as Ansells Garden Centre.