Santander provides property development finance to garden centre

05 April 2012

Written by Steve Olejnik

Alfords Garden Centre and Nursery is increasing the size of its retail space after securing funds from Santander Corporate Banking.

It will use the property development finance to add a greenhouse to its store, boosting its trading estate by 510 square metres.

The firm will also purchase pre-seasonal items, such as pots, seeds and compost, to ensure it is prepared for the anticipated increases in gardening customers that should occur in the immediate future.

Alfords was first established 18 years ago by Dee and Peter Skiba, who still operate from a bungalow within the garden centre's grounds.

Ms Skiba said: "We've been very happy since switching our banking to Santander last year; they understand our business very well and have shown real flexibility in the services they've offered us."

Recently, the lender provided funds to Hosted IP Communications, which helped it to finance its expansion and take advantage of the forecasted high-growth phase it was to enter.