Garden centre develops food hall with Reward Finance backing

A Harrogate garden centre has invested £4m to create a 20,000 sq ft food hall and 160-seat restaurant, supporting the creation of 60 jobs, with backing from Reward Finance Group.Crimple Garden Centre has been owned by Graham Watson since 2013 and offers a collection of plants, shrubs, flowers, and gardening accessories, as well as providing expert horticultural advice and tips.To increase the retail offering, Watson developed the new food hall, featuring more than 50 specialist producers. These include a butcher, bakery, fishmonger, deli and cheese counter, fruit and 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.David Jones and Karen Paige visited the garden centre, where they were shown the designs for the food hall, which mirrored the agricultural buildings in the area with a series of timber clad interconnected barn-like structures.