The Home & Garden Group has appointed Neil Stevens, former owner and director of The Garden Store Ltd, to its management team as Business Development Manager. Mr Stevens ran the Garden Store chain of 10 centres with Marcus Eyles before it was bought by The Hillview Group in 2014. The pair remained with the company before leaving at the end of August 2016 to "pursue new interests".

Mr Stevens’ has joined the The Home & Garden Group, a nine-strong garden centre operator, at a busy time, with the launch of the spring sale at its flagship outlet in Willington, Bedfordshire.

Home & Garden Group Managing Director David White said of Mr Stevens’ appointment: “I'm really looking forward to working with Neil. His management style and industry knowledge will be a great benefit to our retail business. Neil joins us just at the right time, as we start our early-season offer campaign. I am looking forward to a record-breaking year with the strong management team we have in place.”

Mr Stevens commented: “I'm delighted to be joining David, Karen and the Home & Garden team. The company has grown with speed over the past three years, which is very exciting. I look forward to sharing my experiences from The Garden Store to strengthen trading at Home & Garden's current nine stores and developing future business.”

H&G Retail, which trades as The Home & Garden Group is headed up by David White and his sister Karen Gill, who is Finance Director of the business.   

The business operates  the following sites:

Willington Home and Garden, Bedford

Ise Garden Centre, Kettering

Floralands Garden Centre - Nottingham

Stansted Park Garden Centre, Rowlands Castle

Plowmans Garden Centre, Ferndown

Rutland Garden Centre, Oakham, Rutland

Shopwhyke Garden Centre, Chichester

Leighton Buzzard Garden Centre, Leighton Buzzard

David's Nurseries, Worcester