Scotland & Northern Ireland 2023 GCA Award Winners Announced

GARDEN Centre Association (GCA) members in Scotland and Northern Ireland are celebrating after picking up awards during a presentation evening this week (Tuesday, July 11, 2023) at Simpsons Garden Centre in Inverness. 

In Scotland, Klondyke Mortonhall Garden Centre was awarded Garden Centre of the Year in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category and Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries in the Garden Centre (GC) category. In Northern Ireland, Creative Gardens, Bushmills received the GC accolade. 

Peter Burks, GCA CEO, said: “We’ve nearly come to the end of the annual summer Area Award events. This is our penultimate session. Our Scotland/Northern Ireland regional awards presentation evening was a great success, and during the event it was wonderful to hear from our inspector, Alyson Haywood, who presented her findings from her inspections, which took place in the spring. 

“We’d like to thank Simpsons Garden Centre for being fantastic hosts for the evening and all our attendees for taking on all the feedback, which we know they will be taking it back to their own centres in order to make any improvements straight away and also to share the news of any wins they may have achieved too.” 

Alyson was responsible for inspecting member garden centres in the Scotland and Northern Ireland areas during the 12-week period in the spring. 

She said: “It was a pleasure and a privilege to inspect the centres in Scotland and N Ireland, it was great to see innovation and creativity in many categories and a high standard of retailing throughout the region. All category winners excelled in specific parts of the inspection, the overall winners showed consistency and creativity in all aspects.” 

The full results for the Scotland region GCA area awards are as follows for the GC and DGC categories: 

Garden Centre of the Year: Klondyke Mortonhall Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries (GC)

Customer Service Award for Best Customer Service: Klondyke Mortonhall Garden Centre

Environment and Sustainability Award sponsored by Savills: Klondyke Livingston Garden Centre.

The Barton Grange Trophy for Commercial Innovation and Creativity: Simpsons Garden Centre

The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre: Klondyke Livingston Garden Centre

The Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant: Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Mayfield Garden Centre (GC)

The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer: Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries (GC)

The Indoor Lifestyle Award for Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer: joint DGC winners Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Mortonhall Garden Centre and joint GC winners Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries and Klondyke Mayfield Garden Centre (GC)

The Outdoor Living Award for Best Outdoor Living Retailer: joint DGC winners Klondyke Polmont Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Mortonhall Garden Centre and Klondyke Livingston Garden Centre (GC)

Houseplants: Simpsons Garden Centre (DGC) and Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries (GC)

Plantaria (Ruxley Rose): Klondyke Mortonhall Garden Centre and Klondyke Livingston Garden Centre. 

The full results for the Northern Ireland region GCA area awards are as follows:

Garden Centre of the Year: Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC)

Customer Service Award for Best Customer Service: Creative Gardens, Donaghadee

Environment and Sustainability Award sponsored by Savills: Creative Gardens, Logwood

The Barton Grange Trophy for Commercial Innovation and Creativity: Creative Gardens, Donaghadee

The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre: Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC)

The Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant: Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC) 

The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer: Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC)

The Indoor Lifestyle Award for Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer: Creative Gardens, Logwood (GC)

The Outdoor Living Award for Best Outdoor Living Retailer: Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC)

Houseplants: Creative Gardens, Donaghadee (GC)

Plantaria (Ruxley Rose): Creative Gardens Bushmills (GC)

The GCA represents more than 200 garden centres nationwide.

Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability. 

For further information, please visit www.gca.org.uk.

Source : GCA

Image : Garden Centre of the Year (GC) winners, Klondyke Garden Wise, Dumfries for Scotland with Abbie McHolm, Marketing Manager for Klyondyke (left), GCA Inspector, Alyson Haywood (far left) and GCA CEO, Peter Burks (far right).

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