CHOOSE GARDEN CENTRES BY COUNTY BELOW
This independent review of Derby Garden Centre was written by David Marks and was last updated in June 2025.
This is an in depth review by a real human as a result of visiting this garden centre, no Artificial Intelligence is involved!
We reviewed the inside and plant sales areas, took pictures (see lower down this article) and checked out the cafe. The cafe check involved ordering and tasting the food and reporting our findings for you to judge.
Derby Garden Centre has a documented history dating back to 1953 when it was called Oakdale Nurseries. At first it started out selling vegetables, flowers and fruit from a small stall and over the next 30+ years expanded to include trees, plants and general gardening goods.
The garden centre was purchased by Wyevale Garden Centres and in 2009 they renamed it to Findern Garden Centre, Findern being a village in the Derby area. Wyevale further expanded the garden centre considerably over the next few years.
In April 2019 Dobbies purchased Findern Garden Centre (the freehold) for £7,500,000. The final change of ownership occurred when the Blue Diamond Group purchased the garden centre. Currently it is called Derby Garden Centre.
Read further down this page for our in depth and independent review of Derby Garden Centre. In summary though this garden centre has expanded significantly over many years and has everything you would expect of a large garden centre. It is, however, rather tired and dated looking throughout and the cafe is not up to the competition.
Entrance to Derby Garden Centre
IS DERBY GARDEN CENTRE DOG FRIENDLY? Derby Garden Centre is partially dog friendly. Dogs are allowed in all areas of the garden centre except the indoor seating of the cafe. They are allowed in the outdoor seating of the cafe although, be aware, that the outside seating area has no covering at all.
Dog Policy at Derby Garden Centre
There is also conflicting advice being given by the garden centre. On the Derby Garden Centre Facebook page in June 2025 they wrote the following:
"We do love to see all your pooches in our centre….. but we know only too well how hot it gets inside our garden centre at this time of the year. With temperatures continuing to rise throughout the week, we recommend that you don't bring dogs to our centre. If it is 30c outside, it can feel like 40c inside or even hotter, so please be responsible and leave your four-legged friend at home."
The above comment by Derby Garden Centre is rather strange. If their garden centre sometimes feels like 40C or hotter inside, then not only dogs will be affected but humans will also feel very uncomfortable! I would suggest that they seriously consider better air conditioning.
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SIZE: Large, the Clocktower cafe has about forty tables inside and 25 tables outside.
FOOD TYPE: The cafe serves standard type food for a garden centre, it also follows the same basic menu for all the Blue Diamond cafes we have visited.
Breakfast service ends at 11.30, lunch service begins at 12.00, our pictures of the menus below give a better idea of the food on offer. One feature which seemed slightly bizarre was that there was a menu for cakes (not shown below) and the cakes were on display near the cafe entrance. However none of the cakes had a label to indicate what they were.
Breakfast menu at Derby Garden Centre
Coffee / tea menu at Derby Garden Centre
Lunch menu 1 at Derby Garden Centre
Lunch menu 2 at Derby Garden Centre
FOOD QUALITY: We sampled the light breakfast at £9.95. The sausage was overcooked and blackened at one end. The slice of bacon was OK, the hash brown tasted unpleasantly fatty, the meal well presented and hot, including the plate. Slightly pricier than normal.
Breakfast at Derby Garden Centre
DECOR: The decor inside was pleasant but rather tired looking. Nothing special, with plastic tables and chairs, but the overall impression was OK.
Derby Garden Centre cafe view
OUTDOOR SEATING: The cafe has an outdoor seating area of about 30 tables. It wasn't covered but many tables have large umbrellas for those who want sun protection. The outdoor seating area is clean but the surroundings are not attractive.
SERVICE: The staff in the cafe were pleasant. All service is to your table. The system for service is slightly unusual.
As you enter the cafe you are handed a menu and asked to sit at any table. The waitress then comes to your table, takes your order and its at that point that you pay. It worked well for me but others report that it's quite possible that the waitress does not notice you have sat down at your table. This of course can entail a significant delay.
I was then left at my table for about 20 minutes when a waitress asked me if my order had been taken. Somehow my order had been lost in their system. I confirmed my order and the food then arrived about ten minutes later.
Whilst I was waiting I noticed that many of the staff were wheeling trolleys up and down the cafe with the food, cutlery, sauces and napkins on them and guiding the trolley to the tables. This is a system for delivering food to the tables which I have never encountered before.
To me this system gave the impression of chaos and lots of unnecessary noise as the trolleys were wheeled around. To my partner, who has many years of catering experience including management, the system also seemed very unusual but she thought the system was very practical.
I am at a loss to take any conclusions from our opposing views. However I do know this, if you read the various reviews on the internet about the service at this cafe, many of them criticise the service.
VALUE FOR MONEY: Taking into account the food, service and decor, value for money in the cafe is below average. This is not a cafe I would choose to re-visit.
The cafe at Derby Garden Centre was awarded a Food Hygiene Rating of five out of five by Erewash Borough Council in April 2025. Click here for full details.
SIZE OF PLANTS AREA: The plants area is reasonably large. Signage to indicate where plant groups can be found are reasonably clear.
Plants area at Derby Garden Centre
PLANT SELECTION: A good selection of healthy plants. In the outside area there is a pet and wildlife "cabin" which can easily be missed because in most garden centres these goods are normally in the inside area.
LAYOUT: The basic layout of the plants is mainly rows of plants in troughs. However they have broken up this basic design with statues, wrought iron gates and tall plants giving an overall impression of an interesting area. The paths are solid and wide and mostly on the level.
VALUE FOR MONEY: Roses start at £20, clematis are mostly priced at £25 Value for money is slightly above average for a garden centre of this type.
SIZE: There is a large interior sales are at this garden centre
LAYOUT: Paths are wide and solid and eminently suitable for wheel chair users.
Interior sales area
The interior sales area appears to have been designed so that you are forced to follow a meandering path through it to get from one end to the other. This can sometimes add interest to the shopping area but in the case of Derby Garden Centre we found it rather an obvious and irritating strategy.
Houseplants at Derby Garden Centre
The interior of Derby Garden Centre is typical of many large garden centres, it sell a wide variety of gardening and non-gardening goods including home ware, garden furniture, clothing, cards, gifts and more. It also has a food hall which was rather disappointing. No butchers, not many local goods, mainly deli items which can be found in large supermarkets.
The aisles in the inside area are wide level and solid so it's easy to get around.
Food Hall at Derby Garden Centre
VALUE FOR MONEY: Average for a large garden centre.
Disabled access is good at Derby Garden Centre. Paths inside and outside and solid and wide enough for wheelchair access
ADDRESS:
Derby Garden Centre
Alfreton Road
Little Eaton
Derby
Derbyshire
DE21 5DB
OWNER:
Blue Diamond Group
TELEPHONE NUMBER:
01332 831666
WEBSITE: https://www.bluediamond.gg/derby-garden-centre.htm
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