GARDEN centre staff throughout the Garden Centre Association’s (GCA) East region are celebrating today after picking up awards at a presentation at Scotsdales Garden Centre in Cambridgeshire yesterday evening (Monday, July 13, 2026).

The Garden Centre of the Year winners were Perrywood Tiptree in the Destination Garden Centre (DGC) category, Poplars in the Garden Centre (GC) category and Pennells, Sleaford for the Local Garden Centre (LGC).

Peter Burks, GCA CEO, said: “Our East regional awards meeting was both highly informative and thoroughly enjoyable. It was fantastic to see so many members in attendance, and I’d like to thank all the garden centres and their teams who joined us for the event.

“A special thank you goes to our hosts, Scotsdales Garden Centre, whose team provided such a warm welcome and outstanding hospitality throughout the afternoon and evening. Their efforts helped make the event a real success.

“We’re also extremely grateful to our Inspectors, Peter Walker and Mark Pitman, for their engaging presentations and the valuable insights they shared from their visits to centres across the region. Members were keen to capture their observations and practical recommendations, taking away plenty of ideas to discuss with their teams back at their own centres.”

The inspectors were responsible for inspecting member garden centres in the East area across a 12-week period.

Peter Walker explained: “I received a warm welcome at every centre I visited and my overall impression was extremely positive. Standards were very high, with teams demonstrating a genuine enthusiasm to learn, develop and continually improve.

“I also saw some excellent-quality plants, supported by outstanding merchandising standards and creative visual displays that were clearly designed to inspire and engage customers. There is a real commitment to excellence across the region and it was pleasing to see so many centres focused on delivering a first-class experience for their customers.”

Peter and Mark made unannounced visits to all the centres they inspected.

Mark said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed joining the team and completing my first season of GCA Inspections. The standards are exactly what you would expect from the UK’s leading garden centres. Throughout my visits, I’ve seen some truly impressive innovations in customer service, visual merchandising and retail displays, all of which are helping to enhance the customer experience and drive sales.”

The full results, including runners up, where relevant, for the East region GCA area awards are as follows for the DGC, GC and LGC categories:

Garden Centre of the Year:

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Pennells, Lincoln
  3. Scotsdales Garden Centre

GC

  1. Poplars Garden Centre
  2. Perrywood Garden Centre, Sudbury
  3. Aylett Nurseries

LGC

  1. Pennells, Sleaford
  2. Bailey’s of Wistow
  3. Oakington Garden Centre, Cambridge

Plantaria (Ruxley Rose):

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Pennells, Lincoln
  3. Scotsdales Garden Centre

GC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Sudbury
  2. Poplars Garden Centre
  3. Aylett Nurseries

LGC

  1. Pennells, Sleaford
  2. Oakington Garden Centre
  3. British Garden Centres, Charlbury

The GIMA Award for Best Garden Products Retailer:

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Scotsdales Garden Centre
  3. Pennells, Lincoln

GC

  1. Poplars Garden Centre
  2. Sunshine Garden Centre
  3. Aylett Nurseries

LGC

  1. Pennells, Sleaford
  2. British Garden Centres, Upminster
  3. Hertfordshire Garden Centre

The Award for Catering Excellence for Best Garden Centre Restaurant:

DGC

  1. Scotsdales Garden Centre
  2. Pennells, Lincoln and Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree – JOINT RUNNERS UP
  3. Blue Diamond, Bicester

GC

  1. Thetford Garden Centre
  2. Perrywood Garden Centre, Sudbury
  3. Poplars Garden Centre and Meadow Croft Garden Centre – JOINT THIRD PLACE

LGC

  1. Pennells Garden Centre, Sleaford
  2. Rutland Nursery
  3. Oakington Garden Centre 

Customer Service Award for Best Customer Service:

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Pennells, Lincoln
  3. Scotsdales Garden Centre

GC

  1. Bell Plantation
  2. Aylett Nurseries
  3. Thetford Garden Centre

LGC

  1. Pennells, Sleaford
  2. British Garden Centres, Charlbury
  3. British Garden Centres, Ongar

Clothing

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Blue Diamond, Bicester
  3. Brigg Garden Centre

GC

  1. Poplars Garden Centre
  2. Blue Diamond, Peterborough
  3. Meadow Croft Garden Centre

LGC

  1. British Garden Centres, Charlbury
  2. British Garden Centres, Horncastle
  3. British Garden Centres, Hitchen

The Paul Cooling Award for Environment and Sustainability:

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Pennells, Lincoln
  3. Scotsdales Garden Centre

GC

  1. Aylett Nurseries
  2. Meadow Croft Garden Centre
  3. Bell Plantation

LGC

  1. Hertfordshire Garden Centre
  2. Bailey’s of Wistow
  3. British Garden Centres, Harrow

Ian Boardman Award for Best Indoor Plants Retailer

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Brigg Garden Centre
  3. Blue Diamond, Great Amwell

GC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Sudbury
  2. Aylett Nurseries
  3. Meadow Croft Garden Centre

LGC

  1. Pennells, Sleaford
  2. Oakington Garden Centre, British Garden Centres, Charlbury and British Garden Centres, Harrow – JOINT RUNNERS UP
  3. Bailey’s of Wistow

The Dick Allen Award for Most Improved Centre:

  1. Oakington Garden Centre
  2. Pennells, Sleaford
  3. Hertfordshire Garden Centre

Food Hall/Farm Shop Award

DGC

  1. Blue Diamond, Bicester
  2. Scotsdales Garden Centre
  3. Pennells, Lincoln

GC

  1. Blue Diamond, Coton Orchard Garden Centre
  2. Parkers
  3. Poplars Garden Centre and Thetford Garden Centre – JOINT THIRD PLACE

LGC – please note there is only garden centre in this category

  1. Pennells, Sleaford

Garden Construction

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Pennells, Lincoln
  3. Brigg Garden Centre

GC

  1. Poplars Garden Centre
  2. Baytree Garden Centre
  3. Perrywood Garden Centre, Sudbury

LGC

  1. Bailey’s of Wistow and British Garden Centres, Charlbury – JOINT WINNERS
  2. Hertfordshire Garden Centre and British Garden Centres, Upminster – JOINT RUNNERS UP
  3. British Garden Centres, Horncastle, Harrow and Ongar – JOINT THIRD PLACE

Indoor Lifestyle Award for Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer:

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Blue Diamond, Great Amwell
  3. Blue Diamond, Bicester

GC

  1. Poplars Garden Centre
  2. Perrywood Garden Centre, Sudbury
  3. Sunshine Garden Centre and Thetford Garden Centre – JOINT THIRD PLACE

LGC

  1. Bailey’s of Wistow
  2. Rutland Nursery
  3. RHS Hyde Hall

Outdoor Living Award for Best Outdoor Living Retailer:

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Blue Diamond, Bicester
  3. Scotsdale Garden Centre

GC

  1. Aylett Nurseries, Poplars Garden Centre, Haddenham – JOINT WINNERS
  2. Thetford Garden Centre
  3. Bell Plantation, Perrywood Garden Centre, Sudbury, Webbs Millets Farm – JOINT THIRD PLACE

LGC

  1. Pennells, Sleaford
  2. British Garden Centres, Ongar
  3. Bailey’s of Wistow

Pots and Outdoor Ornamentation

DGC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Scotsdales Garden Cenyre
  3. Blue Diamond, Van Hage

GC

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Sudbury
  2. Sunshine Garden Centre
  3. Poplars Garden Centre

LGC

  1. Pennells Sleaford
  2. Bailey’s of Wistow
  3. Hertfordshire Garden Centre

The Barton Grange Trophy for Commercial Innovation and Creativity

  1. Perrywood Garden Centre, Tiptree
  2. Poplars Garden Centre
  3. Thetford Garden Centre

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.

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