Business is booming at the Trentham Estate

Business owners and staff at The Trentham Estate are celebrating after annual figures released this week by estate owners St. Modwen have revealed a five-fold increase in annual visits to the Gardens since 2008.

During 2015 the beautifully restored Trentham Gardens has continued to prove increasingly popular with almost 545,000 paid entry visits. This represents a rise of 14 per cent on the previous year and total visits to the whole Estate are now well over three million per year.

The successful increase in footfall has also resulted in a bumper year for the Trentham Garden Centre and shops, cafes and restaurants in the Trentham Shopping Village, with an overall increase in turnover of around six per cent during 2015.  This is compared with the 2015 statistics from the ONS of a national growth of 2.6 per cent in spending in non food shops.

Mike Herbert, Regional Director for St. Modwen, said: “The Trentham Garden Centre continues to be very popular and all 62 shops, cafes and restaurants at Trentham Shopping Village remain fully occupied.

“During 2015 we also welcomed new businesses including Cornerstone jewellers, The Bakehouse Café Bar and the newly built Joe’s Kitchen restaurant, which opened in November and has created dozens of new jobs.”

Among the many businesses thriving at Trentham is Glazed Art owned by Mark Nixon, who moved into Trentham Shopping Village almost 10 years ago.

He said: “We certainly experienced growth in December, so coming to Trentham has proved very successful for my business.

“Trentham offered me the chance to run my own independent business but with a lot of support. Now we have many regular customers, not just from Staffordshire but from all over the world.

“Trentham has a wonderful volume of footfall for businesses, and what Trentham offers which is unique is that it’s a day out, not just a shopping experience. I can’t think of anywhere else which offers this. It’s just a lovely experience.”

Hannah Stoney, owner of Yellowstone Art Boutique, said she had noticed the increase in footfall to the Trentham Estate in the five years that she has been trading at Trentham.

She said: “Having a larger footfall is vital, as it brings new potential customers into our handmade shop.

“I’ve noticed a really pleasing increase in sales, the most dramatic being over the last year where I’ve also noticed that visitor numbers are way up on previous years.

“The Trentham Estate now has its core of local supporters who we know and love, while the number of tourists has really grown. It has become a destination that we are proud to be part of, and our shop fits in with the Trentham ethos perfectly.”

Mark Heath is store manager at outdoor clothing shop Tog24, which moved into an even larger unit at Trentham Shopping Village in May 2015 and has seen a significant improvement in sales year-on-year.

He said: “The shopping village is a great place to visit and attracts people from all over the country, particularly from Staffordshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands.

“We also have a large proportion of regular customers who live within the area, some of whom visit the site either weekly or several times per week.

“Free parking on site is definitely a positive draw for people as are the unique range of shops and eateries. Overall it is a pleasant environment in which to shop.”

Totally Delicious Limited who run the Italian Gardens Tearoom and Lakeside Cafe, businesses which thrive at Trentham, has recently been shortlisted in The Sentinel Small Business Of The Year Award Category.

Dominic Bowers, managing director said: “The support we had at the start in 2009-10 was the catalyst for me to grow my business.

“Our Trentham Gardens café is our flagship showroom, sales and marketing tool, and we take immense pride in supporting the Trentham Gardens team.

“The Trentham Estate made it a priority to support local independent businesses, and what better example than us.”

The success of the shops, cafes and restaurants at Trentham comes as the Estate plans to build the final ‘Phase 3‘ of the Shopping Village which will see an additional 26 units being built for shop, café and restaurant use.

This final phase will also incorporate a large dedicated Sports and Leisure outlet.

For more details and to download a brochure about the Phase 3 development at Trentham log on to http://bit.ly/1PPmqKN and for full details of all events, opening times, discounts, restaurants and shops at the Trentham Estate visit www.trentham.co.uk