Garden centre reaps rewards of investing in food hall and restaurant
Crimple Garden Centre has invested £4m to create a 20,000 sq ft food hall, incorporating a 160-seat restaurant and creating 60 jobs – with the help of Reward Finance Group.
Owned by Graham Watson since 2013, the Harrogate-based garden centre has a prominent roadside location.
Watson was keen to increase the retail offering by building one of the UK’s largest food halls, featuring more than 50 specialist producers, many of whom are local. These include a butcher, bakery, fishmonger, deli & cheese counter, fruit & veg, and food to go.
In addition to his own money, he approached Reward Finance Group to provide an additional £1.3m working capital investment to complete the scheme.
The food hall has been designed to mirror agricultural buildings in the area with a series of timber clad interconnected barn-like structures.
The sustainable building’s roof allows for natural ventilation and has PV solar panels. In addition, climate-controlled windows keep the temperature constant saving electricity used on heating and cooling.
Refrigeration equipment has been fitted with a heat recovery system producing 1,275 litres of hot water per hour, meeting the needs of the whole building. Even the shopping bags are sustainable, as they are made from potatoes.
Watson met with David Jones, founder director and Karen Paige, associate director, at Leeds-based Reward Finance Group.
Jones said: “Crimple is in an excellent location on a main arterial road into Harrogate, helping to draw high visitor numbers.
“Therefore, the addition of a large, top quality food hall, will provide a further appeal to draw in the passing traffic, as well as attracting people from Harrogate, Leeds, Bradford, and York.
“Reward had no hesitation in providing the top up funding required to help bring the food hall to fruition. The shareholders already owned the site and were paying the majority of the build costs themselves, so it was an easy decision.”
Watson added: “I was delighted David and Karen were impressed with the designs for the food hall and bought into my vision.
“They also recognised my confidence in investing around £3m of our own money into the scheme, leading them to very quickly providing the additional money needed to turn the concept into reality.
“Other potential funders had made cheaper offers but with complications. James Gwynne, from Commercial Expert, then introduced us to Reward who came in and just got the job done, quickly and with the minimum of fuss.”
