In what was perhaps the clearest indication so far of Tesco's expansion plans for the Dobbies garden centre chain, the company applied for planning permission to double the size of its head office building in Midlothian earlier this month.
Not only would the site more than double in size from 19,000sq ft to 41,000sq ft the plans would see staff capacity triple to 300.

Currently Dobbies operates 24 centres throughout Scotland and England with plans for at least three more centres in 2009.