A BRADFORD-BASED garden centre company has won a national award.

Yorkshire Garden Centres, which runs Tong, Tingley, Bingley and Otley Garden Centres, won the Sustainability Award at the 2023 Garden Centre Catering Awards.

The 2023 awards were launched seven months ago and a "bumper number of entries" came in.

They celebrate all the "edible delights garden centres have to offer" and recognise garden centres and nurseries across the UK with a food and drink offering. 

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Tong Garden CentreTong Garden Centre (Image: Telegraph & Argus)

Yorkshire Garden Centre's Commercial Director, Sharon McNair, is delighted with the win: "Sustainability and community are the heart of our business and we are investing significant time, money and manpower to achieve our ambition of being Carbon Neutral by 2026.

"From harnessing solar power and harvesting rainwater, to using green electricity and improving our waste streams, we have already taken many steps to achieve this goal and are proud that our team's efforts have been rewarded with this prestigious award."

A spokesperson for Garden Centre Catering said: "Seven months after its launch, a bumper number of entries, many highly enjoyable covert investigations, much-heated discussion and a final, highly argumentative, but ultimately unanimous judging session, Garden Centre Catering can finally announce the names of the four worthy winners of the Garden Centre Catering Awards 2023 competition - and what a competition it was!"

The winners of the other three awards in the competition were:

  • Independent Garden Centre Caterer of the Year: Thetford Garden Centre, Thetford, Norfolk
  • Group Garden Centre Caterer of the Year: Bosworth Garden Company, Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire
  • Afternoon Tea of the Year: St Peter's Garden Centre, Broomhill, Worcester.

The Yorkshire Garden Centres group employs almost 500 people across its four West Yorkshire sites.