A GARDEN centre has won a prestigious award for the second year in a row.

Bents Garden and Home has picked up the accolade as the UK’s Best Destination Garden Centre 2018/19.

The title was presented by Garden Centre Association (GCA), which is made up of 190 members.

The Warrington Road centre has won the accolade six times and has also been acknowledged as a GCA Garden Centre of Excellence, one of only ten in the country.

Like all member centres, Bents received a surprise visit by GCA inspectors and recorded the top score in the country.

As well as the Best Destination Garden Centre award, the centre won national titles for Best Indoor Lifestyle Retailer and the Barton Grange Trophy for Creativity and Innovation.

Managing director Matthew Bent: "We have a great team of colleagues who work extremely hard in all areas of the business and this award is dedicated to them as a thank you for all their input."

GCA inspectors carry out annual audits on all departments of its members' centres before publishing the findings.

Mr Bent added: “The annual audit focusses on quality standards throughout the centre, not only of products and departments, but also people and service.

"We work hard to ensure standards improve year on year; an approach which has been rewarded by this latest accolade.”