About Us
In May 2015, following the acquisition on Tong Garden Centre, Mark Farnsworth and Tom Megginson embarked on a brand new venture together.
With investment and ambition, the first of their centres was transformed and the team grew quickly to deliver a much-improved shopping experience as well as a new restaurant, food hall and outdoor playground. Investment continued with the addition of indoor play and dining at Grass Hoppers as well as the opening of our second restaurant at Tong – The Mezzanine.
Our Story - Building Our Family of Brands for Families to Enjoy
This mix of retail, food and play really underpinned the ambition to be a destination for all the family to enjoy and has driven the growth strategy to become multi-site across Yorkshire. The team built on the success with new brands and introduced Hearty’s Food Hall and Blooms Kitchen to strengthen the customer experience.
In 2022, work was completed on a new, purpose-built location in South Leeds, home to Tingley Garden Centre, our second family destination with its combination of shopping, dining, Grass Hoppers play and Hearty’s Food Hall. We also introduced Mission Out, our brand new outdoor adventure attraction for older children, schools, groups and team building with activities including high ropes, adventure golf and a jump tower pillow.
In the same year, the business acquired the long-established Stephen H Smith centres based in Otley and Bingley, great additions to the family and a huge stride forward in delivering the vision for multiple sites across Yorkshire.
Investment and redevelopment at Otley and Bingley saw the centres transform in line with both Tong and Tingley and the team introduced the parent brand, Yorkshire Garden Centres, to host the family of brands, created across all the sites, for families to enjoy.
At the heart of the transformation and continued growth since 2015 has been a strong team ethos with our people and culture at the forefront of the strategy.
“People have always been at the heart of our vision – creating a great place to visit and a great place to work have kept us focused. We couldn’t have got here without an amazing team and we’re proud to say we’ll employ more than 400 people across our four sites, each one playing a valuable part in delivering our vision.”