IN PICTURES: Take a tour through Peterborough's new £27 million Blue Diamond Home and Garden Centre

The official launch of Peterborough’s £27 million new look home and garden centre takes place today (April 29).

Staff at the Blue Diamond Home and Garden Centre, in Eye Road, which was formerly the PE1 Retail Park, will be hosting a variety of attractions throughout the day.

Manager Jude Fitzsimons said: “There will be music, face painting, balloons and lots more here on Saturday.

"The centre has been transformed and everything has been completely refurbished. The whole flow through the centre is completely different.”

Jude, who joined the centre in 2019, said: “Soon after I joined we had the Covid-19 pandemic and it was a really challenging time.

"But it is so much better now – it is lovely.”

Among the many features at the centre will be the new Kipling Pâtisserie Café, The Home & Garden Restaurant, alongside a variety of outdoor and indoor plants, gardening products, outdoor furniture, toys and games and a Local Larder Food Hall.

The Guernsey-based Blue Diamond Group bought the PE1 Retail earlier this year for £27 million with its managing director Alan Roper promising a £3 million investment to transform the centre.

It is expected that the investment in the centre will see the number of staff increase from about 30 to 100 people.

Blue Diamond, which operates 39 stores and has 3,668 staff, has annual sales of £255 million plus, operates its own nursery where it grows millions of pounds worth of plants in recyclable pots, using peat-free compost.