A GARDEN centre on the border of East Hampshire and West Sussex will start the next season with a new owner.

The Wyevale Garden Centre (WGC) in Rake is one of six around England which has been sold to the Blue Diamond group.

The sale of the London Road business and the other WGC sites in Worcester, Canterbury, Chartham, Hereford, Lower Morden and Tunbridge Wells should be completed in mid-September.

The Rake site will continue to operate as normal in the meantime but further announcements are due from Blue Diamond "in due course" according to their latest press release.

The sale of the six WGC stores to Blue Diamond follows the acquisition of a further nine by the same garden centre operator last year.

In the meantime, Anthony Jones, chief operating officer at WGC, has thanked staff at the Rake store and its counterparts for their efforts.

Mr Jones said: "The (Blue Diamond) team’s decision to take on six more sites is testament to both the strength of our garden centres and the level of trust and confidence that has developed between the WGC and Blue Diamond teams through this sale process.

He added: "I would like to say a big thank you to colleagues across these six centres for their passion, expertise and hard work and wish them the very best for the future under new ownership."

Blue Diamond is the third largest garden centre retailer in the country with 30 stores currently across the United Kingdom and the Channel Islands.

The Post understands that current staffing numbers will not be affected by the change of ownership but some of the store’s contents will be changed, with The Works franchise likely to be a victim.

Alan Roper, managing director of Blue Diamond, said: "I went back to Wyevale Garden Centres to look for only a couple more centres and came out with six!

"Geographically all the centres are a perfect fit and enable us to deliver our full Blue Diamond proposition.

"We look forward to working with our new colleagues across the centres and welcoming them into the Blue Diamond family.

"I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Anthony and the team at Wyevale Garden Centres who during all acquisitions have been supportive, thoughtful and professional throughout."