The history of Barton Grange

Barton Grange Hotel

In 1945 Mr and Mrs Edward Topping bought a small mansion set in five acres of gardens in Barton and converted it into a six-bedroom hotel. Over the years it has expanded to its present size of 51 bedrooms and is well known as both a three star hotel and conference centre.

Some of the grounds were set aside for a market garden, which was developed by Mr Eddie Topping when he returned from Horticultural College in 1955. A landscaping service was established in 1957 running alongside the market garden and due to continued growth, Landscapes moved in 1986 to a dedicated site a third of a mile from the hotel and garden centre in Barton.

The Garden Centres were inaugurated in 1963 when Eddie Topping started the Northwest's first Garden Centre in the grounds of Barton Grange Hotel this started as a 10' x 8' shed and has now developed into one of the largest centres in the Northwest. The second centre was built in Bolton in 1990 and is similar in size to Preston. Another Centre was purchased at Woodford, Cheshire , in 1994 and was developed extensively before being sold in 2006 to enable the company to shift its focus back towards Lancashire and particularly the development at Brock.

Barton Grange Bolton

In the early 1970's additional land was acquired a mile from Barton Grange where containerised trees and shrubs are grown a by subsidiary company called Garden Centre Plants. In 1986 a Propagation Unit was set up and some 3 million plants at any one time are grown within the Garden Centre Plants operation.

January 1993 saw the arrival of Brook House Nurseries into the Group; this Company specialises in house and bedding plants.

In conclusion, the group currently employs around 450 people on a full time, part time, seasonal or temporary basis.

« Return to group information